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No evidence Aryan was part of conspiracy, finds NCB’s SIT

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3 years ago

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No evidence Aryan was part of conspiracy, finds NCB’s SIT

New Delhi: There is no evidence that Aryan Khan, the son of actor Shah Rukh Khan, was part of a larger drugs conspiracy or an international drugs trafficking syndicate, and there were several irregularities in the raid on the yacht Cordelia during which he was arrested, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), has found, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named.

Indeed, contrary to the allegations of NCB’s Mumbai unit, some of the key findings of the SIT, shared by officials with HT, are: Aryan Khan was never in possession of drugs hence there was no need to take his phone and check his chats; the chats do not suggest Khan was part of any international syndicate; the raid was not video-recorded as mandated by the NCB manual; and the drugs recovered from multiple accused arrested in the case shown as single recovery.

To be sure, the SIT probe is not complete and it could be a couple of months before it submits its final report to NCB Director General S N Pradhan. A legal opinion will be taken before the final decision, particularly on the aspect whether Khan can be charged for consumption even though he was not carrying any drugs , said one of the officers.

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The SIT probe seems to raise more questions over the raid itself, and the conduct of the agency’s former Mumbai Zonal Unit director Sameer Wankhede.

Wankhede, who has since been repatriated to his parent cadre, has been examined multiple times – both by the SIT and the agency’s vigilance team — to get to the truth in the case.

Wankhede led a team of officers and some witnesses on the night of October 2 last year to raid a cruise ship, Cordelia, at International Cruise Terminal at Green Gate in Mumbai. NCB seized 13 grams of cocaine, five grams of mephedrone, 21 grams of marijuana, 22 pills of MDMA (Ecstasy), and ₹1.33 lakh in cash from cruise vessel.

Significantly, the initial findings of the SIT probe substantiate the observations by Bombay high court, which granted bail to Khan on October 28 last year while saying that “there was no evidence to suggest existence of any conspiracy”, the officials said.

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SIT’s review of the Cordelia probe which involved questioning all the arrested persons, witnesses, officials at the Mumbai unit who took part in the dramatic raid along with Wankhede, has also revealed that Khan never asked his friend Arbaaz Merchant to bring drugs on the cruise; a fact corroborated by the latter during his questioning.

The procedural lapses are already being looked into in a separate vigilance enquiry being carried by the agency.

From the cruise ship, the agency intercepted 14 persons and after hours of interrogation placed Aryan Khan, 24, Arbaaz Merchant, 26, and Munmum Dhamecha, 28, under arrest on the afternoon of October 3. Subsequently, the agency arrested 17 more persons in connection with the raid.

Relying on WhatsApp chats, Wankhede’s team claimed the accused were part of a larger conspiracy. It alleged that Aryan Khan was in touch with some foreign drug supplier and the chats referred to “hard drugs” and “bulk quantities”.

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However, rejecting NCB’s claims, a single bench of justice Nitin W Sambre of Bombay high court noted that there was no evidence to suggest existence of any conspiracy.

The judge said merely because Aryan Khan and others, including his friend Arbaaz Merchant and model Munmun Dhamecha, were travelling together on the cruise by itself cannot be termed as foundation for a conspiracy.

“After having gone through the WhatsApp chats extracted from Applicant/Accused no. 1’s phone (Aryan’s phone), nothing objectionable could be noticed to suggest that Applicant nos. 1 & 2 (Arbaaz) or all three applicants (Aryan, Arbaaz and Munmun) along with other accused persons in agreement had meeting of minds and had hatched conspiracy,” said the judge.

“There is hardly any positive evidence on record to convince this Court that all the accused persons with common intention agreed to commit unlawful acts,” the judge added.

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The court also refused to accept NCB’s contention that both Khan and merchant told agency officials that they were going to consume the six grams of marijuana.

The high-profile case got shrouded in controversy when a key NCB witness alleged that the agency’s Mumbai zonal chief Sameer Wankhede was part of a ₹25 crore extortion racket targeting Khan .

The witness, Prabhakar Sail, also alleged that he was forced to sign sheets of blank paper, prompting the anti-drug agency to set up an inquiry into Wankhede.

 

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HT Rewind 2024: Teja Sajja says HanuMan kicking off the year in style is the moment he’d been ‘waiting for’ | Exclusive

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14 hours ago

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December 21, 2024

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HT Rewind 2024: Teja Sajja says HanuMan kicking off the year in style is the moment he’d been ‘waiting for’ | Exclusive

In conversation with Hindustan Times, Teja Sajja decodes the success of HanuMan and other Telugu films, talks about his upcoming projects, and more.
When Prasanth Varma’s superhero film HanuMan, starring Teja Sajja, was announced to be released alongside big films like Mahesh Babu’s Guntur Kaaram, Venkatesh’s Saindhav and Nagarjuna’s Naa Saami Ranga in January this year, no one expected the underdog to emerge on top. And yet, the film, made on a budget of under ₹50 crore, managed to collect over ₹300 crore at the box office worldwide in 25 days, becoming one of the highest-grossing Indian films for the year. (Also Read: Ranveer Singh met HanuMan actor Teja Sajja, complimented him even after his Prasanth Varma film Rakshas got shelved)

Ask Teja about the moment he realised his film had not just fought against the tide but also risen to the top; he tells Hindustan Times in an exclusive conversation, “Since I returned to acting (as a lead actor after being a child artiste since 1998), this is the moment I’ve been waiting for. When everything from the HanuMan teaser to the songs was grabbing attention, we knew we had hit a gold mine. But I don’t think we imagined it would cross the ₹300 crore threshold. We were so satisfied with the opening numbers; everything else was a bonus.”

‘Success has given me fear of disappointing people’

Teja acted in Zombie Reddy, Ishq and Adbhutham before HanuMan, but they are what you would call ‘critical successes’, adding to his repertoire as an actor who can perform. But things have changed for him now, says Teja, who is being picky about the roles he says yes to. “Success either makes you overconfident or gives you the fear of disappointing people; I have the latter,” he explains.

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Teja admits he wants to chart out his career in Hrithik Roshan’s footsteps, but not in the way you think. “I have such a fondness for Hrithik due to Koi Mil Gaya and Krrish. No matter how well he performed after that, these left a lasting impression on me; I’m sure 90s kids will agree,” he says, adding, “Similarly, I’ve realised that I have an audience in children now. I want to be conscious of that when I pick roles. I want to make films families can enjoy together.”

But despite people in places like Mumbai or Delhi recognising him, Teja says he’s clear that he wants to cater to the Telugu audience first. “I am conscious that I am making films for my playground – the Telugu states. This is the sensibility I have grown up with, and I don’t know if I can cater to everyone else. Will I promote my films in other languages? Sure. But I also can’t be part of films that aren’t authentic to what I know or understand,” he explains.

‘Rootedness has put us on the world map’

And authenticity seems to be the need of the hour. Be it Baahubali and RRR or the recently released Pushpa 2: The Rule, Kalki 2898 AD and Devara: Part 1, certain kind of stories seem to be finding success. “Rootedness and going local is proving to be such a boon for us, be it in Devara or Pushpa or HanuMan. Kalki 2898 AD was our version of a Hollywood film (the sci-fi concept) with actors from across languages in predominant roles; it put us on the world map,” reflects Teja.

However, the actor admits Tollywood went through a phase of Bollywood-inspired rom-coms and family dramas that worked in their favour for a while. “That wasn’t easy to replicate either, but it’s just that these local stories are what the audience seems most interested in now. It can’t just be chalked up to religion, too. It’s about the morals these films are hinged on, the fighting for righteousness, and how an underdog can find their strength. Introducing Mahabharata or Ramayana to a new audience in a cool way is just a perk,” he says.

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And it’s this rootedness that Teja says his next films, Mirai and Jai Hanuman (the sequel to HanuMan), will also have ample of. “Mirai is also a superhero film that caters to kids, but it’s not an origin story like HanuMan. It has a pan-Asian and Buddhist touch because the story is based on King Ashoka’s ideologies. I hope that I will get to deliver something new to the audience again. I will only feel like I’ve arrived if Mirai is equally, if not more, successful,” says Teja.

Rishab Shetty will headline Jai Hanuman, but Teja also looks forward to shooting that. “I can’t wait to be on that set; it’ll be exciting. Now that we know India is ready to watch our films, I want to step it up. I want to shift gears and shoot for at least two films in 2025,” he says. As for what he will do next, Teja says he wants to up the ante. “When I got a SIIMA award for Zombie Reddy as a debutant, I remember telling Prasanth this would be the last award I get. But now that I won a Radio City Cine Award for Best Actor, I hope more awards will follow,” he signs off cheekily.

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