Sena leader demands probe NCB for violating Aryan Khan's rights

Mumbai: Minister of State and senior Shiv Sena leader has approached the Supreme Court to request a probe into the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) which he alleged has been misusing its powers and 'hounding' celebrities with 'malafide intentions' for the past two years.

Tiwari's petition alleges that Aryan Khan, son of Shah Rukh Khan, has been kept in 'illegal' confinement in the Cordelia drugs case and his fundamental right to bail has been violated. Referring to the Special NDPS Court (Mumbai) deferring the verdict in the bail plea of Aryan Khan and other accused till October 20 citing public holidays, the plea said this has subjected the accused "to face big humiliation". The court had not followed its own rule of 'bail is the norm and jail is the exception' he alleged.

In addition to this, the Shiv Sena leader accused Sameer Wankhede, lead investigator at the NCB, of incessantly hounding celebrities and personalities in Bollywood. The purpose of bringing such big names under the NCB scanner was to pressure them to give Wankhede's wife - a well-known Marathi film star - a chance to enter Bollywood he claimed. The agency had shown a track record of similar behaviour even as far back as the Sushant Singh Rajput case, the plea noted

"Starting with the probe into the Sushant Singh Rajput death case, the probe has been 'totally diverted in an unrelated direction' ... The alleged NCB seizures are 'minuscule jokes' compared to the Mumbai Police achievements, or the DRI which last month seized 3000-kgs drugs from Mundra Port in Gujarat," Tiwari said in the plea, as quoted by the Economic Times.

Last week, Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik had alleged that Wankhede was enlisting close friends as witnesses in the Cordelia drugs case while allegedly helping cover up the fact that the nephew of a BJP minister was on board the ship. These allegations should also be considered as should the fact that no drugs were found on Aryan Khan, nor did he test positive for any Tiwari said. Yet he has been denied bail repeatedly and shunted into three different kinds of courts.

Aryan Khan, along with 7 others were detained, arrested on October 3 and have remained in NCB and judicial custody for the past 17 days, with their bail order likely to be delivered by Special Judge V.V. Patil on Wednesday.