Shah Rukh Khan's son gets clean chit in drugs-on-cruise case

Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan was cleared in the drugs-on-cruise case by the India's Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Friday (27 May).

The Indian anti-drugs agency has filed a 6,000-page chargesheet, naming 14 accused, after drugs were found in a raid on a cruise ship off Mumbai in October. Aryan Khan, 23, who was one of 20 people arrested, has not been named as an accused, reports the NDTV. 

"All the accused persons were found in possession of narcotics except Aryan and Mohak," read a statement by senior NCB officer Sanjay Kumar Singh.

The agency could not find sufficient evidence against Aryan Khan and the five others, he said.

Aryan Khan had spent more than three weeks in jail after he was arrested in the drugs case that dominated news headlines and polarised social media.

India's Narcotic Control Bureau had initially claimed Aryan Khan was a regular user and supplier of drugs.

The charges were strongly denied by the actor's son and his lawyers who contended that no drugs were found on him during the raid.

The NCB's arguments were also questioned by a special court hearing the case, which said it could not just rely on WhatsApp messages to make such grave allegations.

The officer in charge of the investigation, Sameer Wankhede, was dropped and faced allegations of deliberately targeting Aryan Khan and even trying to blackmail the accused. The case was also transferred from a Mumbai-based team of the NCB to a Delhi-based team after lapses in the probe emerged.

After missing the deadline to file a chargesheet in the case, the agency receiving a two-month extension from the court in March.