MUMBAI: Actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan had advised his friend Arbaaz Merchant not to carry contraband to the cruise party, the latter said in his statement to the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
Merchant (26) was named as an accused in the chargesheet submitted against 14 people on Friday. It is alleged that 6gm of charas was recovered from Merchant after the October 2021 raid. He is currently out on bail.
“Merchant told (NCB) that he and Aryan are close friends and also admitted that Aryan was aware of the fact that he (Merchant) was an occasional hash (charas) consumer and that’s why told him not to carry any hash to the cruise as the NCB was very active these days,” said the chargesheet.
Aryan is among the six against whom all charges were dropped by the NCB’s special investigation team. His alleged statements are also part of the chargesheet.
In another statement recorded on October 7, 2021, while he was in NCB custody, Merchant was again quoted. “He (Merchant) said that Aryan told him that his parents have advised him not to indulge in any illegal activities, especially drug consumption,” the chargesheet said.
Merchant also allegedly told NCB that he had travelled to the international cruise terminal in Aryan’s car with two others. The chargesheet said Merchant had also named a man who organised parties for “rich kids of Bollywood” and that drugs are consumed at these parties.
Also quoted are statements of Merchant’s friends who were headed for the party too. They were questioned by the NCB, but let off. The friends, in their statements, allegedly stated that when they were in the NCB office, Merchant came to them and apologised. “…that due to him they all got into a problem and he felt really sorry for all. . . ,” the chargesheet said. Another friend said, “Arbaaz told us that he has told NCB officers that we are not connected with this drug recovery from him. ”
Among other statements is that of actor Ananya Pandey recorded on October 22, 2021, in connection with certain chats from 2019, including an alleged chat with Aryan about procurement of weed. While Pandey acknowledged the chats, she told the NCB that the chats related to weed were said in jest. “She said that all the chats held with Aryan were an extension of the same joke as mentioned earlier,” the statement attributed to her said.
