Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son has been cleared of drug charges. Aryan Khan, 24, was arrested in October 2021 for allegedly doing recreational drugs at a party.
India’s anti drug agency dropped the charges. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had earlier charged him under laws relating to possession, consumption and sale of illegal substances.
Following a raid on a ship on October 2, 2021 in which a group of youngsters were partying in, the bureau said WhatsApp messages allegedly showed Aryan Khan was involved in drug dealing at the time. He was searched an interrogated and taken into custody by the NCB.
On May 27 the NCB cleared him of all charges. A charge sheet filed in court named 14 accused in the case but left out six others, including Aryan Khan, “due to lack of evidence”.
He was among several other young people who had been arrested in the case and spent nearly three weeks in jail. He was later released on bail.
The case had dominated headlines and conversation on Indian social media as the NCB claimed Aryan Khan was a habitual drug user and also supplied contraband.
The boy’s lawyer Mukul Rohatgi told the press that Shah Rukh Khan was relieved that his son’s name had been cleared. “Ultimately, the truth has prevailed,” Mr Rohatgi told news channel NDTV.
Shah Rukh Khan, 56, has starred in more than 100 movies in a career lasting 30 years.
Bollywood has had its fair share of drug problems with many famous stars coming under the microscope recently for the reputed use of hard drugs.
The sudden demise of Sushant Singh Rajput at 34 was rumoured to have a drug angle involving his girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty. However Chakraborty too was cleared and released from jail a month after her arrest. Police have ruled his death as a suicide.
More recently female celebrities like Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan and Rakul Preet Singh have been interrogated by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) to examine their involvement in drug rackets.