Apart from his already-released chartbuster ‘Pathaan’ and his forthcoming film that is titled ‘Jawan’, another important aspect of Shah Rukh Khan’s life that is attracting attention from the fans of the ‘Baazigar’ of the Hindi film industry, the media and the general public alike, is the two years old case related to the discovery of drugs from a private luxury cruise in Mumbai and the framing of Shah Rukh Khan’s eldest child, his son Aryan Khan and his friend’s involvement in the case. Since then a lot of fingers have been raised at many people and finally, it seems that the Lady of Justice has decided to remove her black blindfold and take a peep at Aryan Khan finally for the first time in two years. Therefore, all have turned once again in the favour of Aryan Khan as the charges against him were dropped and the officers who were involved in the drug case have been charged for publicly attempting to and defaming a renowned and respectable person as Shah Rukh Khan, especially, the director of the Mumbai zone of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Sameer Wankhede. Now, things have started going easy on the family of the Khan of the Hindi film industry as the courts and the Central Bureau of Investigation have started a probe against Sameer Wankhede and his associates such as KP Gosavi, Ashish Ranjan Prasad and several others.

The Controversial Arrest of Aryan Khan

On the night of the 3^rd of October, 2021, Aryan Khan, the eldest child of the Khan of the Hindi film industry was arrested from a private luxury cruise that goes by the name of ‘Cordelia’ in an alleged case of possession of narcotics substances with himself. He was arrested along with some of his friends such as Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha. Seventeen other persons were also framed in the drug raid and arrested. What claimed most of the attention of the fans of the actor, the media and the general public alike was how could the son of an actor of such fame fall to such a level, where he could safely possess psychedelic substances with himself. The person, who became the hero for busting the drug racket, was the former Director of the Mumbai zone of the Narcotics Control Bureau, Sameer Wankhede. People, not yet knowing the truth behind the case, would start showering their praises on Sameer Wankhede and his team. What created suspicion in the minds of the general public at the same time was the unusual quietness from the side of the actor and his family regarding what had unfolded with his son. It was so much so that several people had started to believe that probably even Shah Rukh Khan was also associated with it somehow or the other. The officer and his team were hailed as the epitome of courage and morality, who would not relinquish his duty in the face of pressure from such an influential person as that of Shah Rukh Khan.

However, things started to sound controversial and fishy since the surfacing of some pictures on the internet of Aryan Khan clicking a selfie with a bald-headed man. The bald-headed man seemed to be in quite a joyful mood while Aryan Khan looked devastated and all broken down. Such a picture surfaced on the internet and seemed to wreck down the Khan family itself as even Shah Rukh Khan had stopped his public exposure, though it was claimed by his team that he was busy with his shooting of ‘Pathaan’.  Taking into consideration all of this, everybody started demanding a thorough probe into the matter to be sure of what had unfolded on that day. However, as has been suggested in several reports, Shah Rukh Khan and his family had kept their affairs with this case a secret and never made or refuted any claim in the public.

The Turn of the Tables for Sameer Wankhede

After a thorough and impartial investigation was carried out by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Mumbai Police, it was finally discovered that Aryan Khan was not in any way associated with the possession of psychedelic substances. He was just present on the spot of the arrest when the raids were being conducted just like several other people, who were there. As the progress of the case was being published, people started questioning the authenticity of the investigation. At last, it was found by the courts of law that Aryan Khan is free of any charges and has been falsely convicted of a crime that he has not committed at all. It was proved in the courts of law that Aryan Khan was framed in the drug case by none other than Sameer Wankhede himself.

Recently, as per the orders of the courts, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has started deeply probing into the charges of corruption against him and quite unexpectedly, it was discovered that he was involved in most of the cases that have been filed against him. He has been removed from the post of the Director of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) of the Mumbai zone as of now on the 31^st of December in the last year. It was also discovered from a further investigation that the prime witness who was seen to be clicking a selfie with Aryan Khan was somebody going by the name of Kiran Gosavi. It was found that the man was sent by Sameer Wankhede to pose with Aryan Khan as a false witness. This was to bring defamation to the Khan family. Several other people such as another man by the name of Prabhakar Sail and a local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Manish Bhanushali were also sent in by Sameer Wankhede and his team to frame them as false witnesses. This controversial information was recently released by a former Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer called Ashish Ranjan Prasad, who was also a part of the team on that fateful night. Ashish Ranjan Prasad revealed that Sameer Wankhede had called up Kiran Gosavi and had asked him to take Aryan Khan into his custody. He had then asked Gosavi to click a selfie of himself with Aryan Khan and Gosavi obliged him by doing that. Fake witnesses were framed against him to make sure that he goes behind bars for a pretty long time. All the fake witnesses have been taken into legal custody by the Mumbai police for further investigation. It has been reported from sources close to Shah Rukh Khan that he was being blackmailed repeatedly by Sameer Wankhede to pay him 25 crore rupees, which was finally settled down to 18 crore rupees if he wanted his son to be acquitted and released. If he failed to pay him the sum, he was threatened with public defamation. This even made the ‘Don’ of the Hindi film industry cow down before him and Shah Rukh Khan had even sent a sum of 50 lakhs of rupees to him through his manager Puja Dadlani. Puja Dadlani was seen carrying this amount in a black bag. It was hence proved that the framing of his son was an attempt by the super cop to simply extort money from him at the cost of the public image of him and his family.

A Fishy Political Smell in It

Everybody could find something suspicious in the arrest and the motive behind its execution. Recently, it has fuelled more controversy after it was claimed in some reports that it was an attempt by the central Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government to topple the local Maharashtra government by framing it as an incompetent one by using the central investigating agencies. A political spat has already ensued between the Maharashtra Vikas Agadi (MVA) and the central government which has been denying the claims of their unfair involvement in the incident as of now.

A ‘Jhoome Jo Pathaan’ Moment for Shah Rukh Khan and Family

The recent unfurling of the investigation seemed to come as a relief for the Khan family as Aryan Khan has been provided with a clean chit from the courts of the law. He is now washed off every allegation that was made against him in legal terms. The entire team of Wankhede has been arrested and removed from service until further notice from the courts. On being questioned regarding this, Wankhede replied curtly, “Sorry, I can’t comment. I’m not in the NCB, talk to NCB officials.” It clearly shows that now being in a sorrowful position himself, he is trying his best to avoid any further attention to him but the damage has been already done by him beyond any chances of repair. It seems so difficult for us to accept that police officials associated with the protection of the law are attempting to and even breaking the laws themselves. It comes as a big moment of shame for the largest democracy in the world.

However, coming back to Shah Rukh Khan, it will not be wrong to say that he is now basking in the glory of victory in the ‘Cordllia’ cases and we can probably say that he is now shaking his head to the beats of ‘Jhoome Jo Pathaan’ with satisfaction and pride.