Cordelia drug raid case: NCB set to file chargesheet by the month end

An NCB officer said that with the first arrests in the case made on October 2, last year, the six-month period that the agency has for filing the chargesheet will be over by March end. If the NCB does not file a chargesheet by then, the accused who are currently behind bars will be eligible for default bail. Currently, of the 20 accused arrested in the case, 18, including Aryan, are out on bail. Two are still behind bars.

Further, the NCB on Wednesday denied reports that it will not charge Aryan in the case, as no evidence has been found against him. Deputy DG Sanjay Singh said, “As far as media reports on non-availability of evidence against Aryan Khan are concerned, these are not true and are just speculations and nothing else.” He added, “The investigation is not yet completed and it is premature to say anything at this stage.”

After several allegations were made into the probe carried out by former NCB Mumbai Zonal Unit director Sameer Wankhede, the Cordelia case, along with five others, was transferred to a SIT headed by Sanjay Singh.

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