Greater questions remain

After a lot of twists and turns for around a month, Aryan Khan, along with the co-accused Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha, was granted bail on Thursday by the Bombay High Court. Still, the High Court judgement in the case leaves behind yet another instance of reckless media trial, the damages inflicted by which remain unaddressed. Also, going much beyond from being a simple drug consumption case to leading to implication of a zonal director of NCB, the case is now open with many facets. The spotlight in the case appears to have shifted from Aryan Khan to Maharashtra's renowned narcotics control officer who has been in the limelight for busting a good number of drug abuse cases in the past. Further, it has gone on to take a shady political colour and a theme as complex as corruption. More importantly, the case has backfired to question the integrity of the Narcotics Control Bureau itself. The prospect of Aryan Khan's bail was almost made clear after two other co-accused — Manish Rajgarhiya and Avin Sahu — were granted bail earlier by the special NDPS court, subject to furnishing bail bonds of Rs 50,000. But Aryan Khan's case was hurdled by NCB's allegation of a commercial angle. The agency had argued that Aryan Khan was an 'influential' person and was involved in the distribution of contraband. Apparently, NCB's allegation around Aryan Khan's international linkage had been one of the impediments to Khan's bail prospects. Earlier, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohtagi, who appeared for Aryan Khan, had argued in the court to clarify the question of conscious possession. He had argued, "It is elementary that 'conscious possession' needs direct control.'' Rohtagi went on to argue that since there was "no recovery; no consumption, no medical examination to show consumption", his client was "wrongly arrested". Another aspect that could have complicated the matter for Khan was the possible prolongation of the case on account of parallel investigations in the Sameer Wankhede case. Aryan Khan's counsel has been rather quick in dissociating his client from the Sameer Wankhede case. The controversy stoked by the statement of one of the eyewitnesses in the Aryan Khan case, Prabhakar Sail, doesn't appear to die down anytime soon. Prabhakar had been summoned by NCB for interrogation. The questions raised by Prabhakar's allegations are very profound. These not only implicate Sameer Wankhede in a corruption scandal but also questions the integrity of NCB. Two major allegations made by Prabhakar include: 1) That he has overheard a conversation regarding a pay-off to Sameer Wankhede in the Aryan Khan case; 2) He was asked to sign a bunch of blank papers by NCB. Prabhat was referring to the conversation of Kiran Gosavi with a third person where he talked about paying off a certain sum to Sameer Wankhede as part of the settlement process. As for the allegations around being asked to sign a blank 'panchanama' document, this goes against the established protocol of signing a pre-filled document. This raises serious questions regarding the functioning of NCB. At the centre of this case is Sameer Wankhede — who is known for his strong information network and proactive approach towards drug control. Under his directorship, the Mumbai zone of NCB has registered a record number of 94 narco-related cases in 2021, as compared to an average number ranging around 30 over the past few years. In the current case, however, the allegations of extortion in high-profile cases involving celebrities have resurfaced. Sameer Wankhede came to the limelight in the Rhea Chakravarty case as well where he is known to have been introduced on account of his strong network in the narcotics world. Even during his stint in the National Investigation Agency and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, he has had occasional conflicts with the glitterati of the Bollywood world. Further, the cruise liner drug case is most compounded with the introduction of political colour. Nawab Malik has been rampant in his castigation of Sameer Wankhede. He has levelled several allegations including Sameer Wankhede adopting fraudulent means to obtain the IRS job and him framing innocent persons in drug cases. This appears to be the most inappropriate way to level such far-reaching unproven allegations on public platforms like social media, especially if the matter is sub-judice. Aryan Khan's bail possibly indicates the fact that the case against him, though meriting investigation, was perhaps exaggerated. A note has to be taken by various wings of the government to ensure that probe agencies in such cases act with constraint. Further, an intervention is badly needed to lay down a framework to check media trials in high-profile cases, which make things worse. Still greater is the question of corruption that may be more layered than what has been found out to date, with new stakeholders entering into the scene daily.