Editorial: Loss of credibility

Framing celebrities in controversial cases to earn media spotlight and attention has been a dangerous tendency among a section of officers of the central investigating agencies. In the process, enormous damage is caused to the reputation of the accused persons and their families. The high-profile drugs case involving Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan […]

Framing celebrities in controversial cases to earn media spotlight and attention has been a dangerous tendency among a section of officers of the central investigating agencies. In the process, enormous damage is caused to the reputation of the accused persons and their families. The high-profile drugs case involving Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan is the latest example of how some overzealous officers go berserk in targeting celebrities on flimsy grounds. Ultimately, such cases don’t stand the scrutiny of law. The clean chit given to Aryan Khan and five others in the drugs-on-cruise ship case, after months of harassment and relentless hounding, has exposed the loopholes in the functioning of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). The case is an inflection point for the agency as it takes a terrible blow to its credibility and professionalism. After causing so much trauma and agony to the family of Khan, the drug law enforcement agency now says, in its chargesheet in a Mumbai court, that there was ‘lack of sufficient evidence’ against him and his associates. Aryan Khan was arrested by the NCB on October 3 last year and released from jail later that month after being granted bail. In March this year, the special court had granted the probe agency a 60-day extension to file the chargesheet. Arrests in the case were made by the NCB zonal office under its former director Sameer Wankhede and his team. On November 6 last year, the NCB headquarters removed Wankhede from the probe and transferred the case from Mumbai to a Delhi-based SIT.

The anti-drug agency has suffered an erosion of fair play and ethics. It was hoped that the NCB would draw lessons and course-correct after the rap from the Bombay High Court while granting bail to actor Rhea Chakraborty in the Sushant Singh Rajput case, but the investigating agency’s probe trajectory has been disappointing. The inept, unprofessional handling of the Mumbai case saw wild, unsubstantiated claims being tossed around; persistent leaks to the media; and unanswered questions on the presence of individuals with dubious credentials during raids. The investigating agency has to change tack to address the serious drug-related issues, particularly after the regime change in Afghanistan. The direction to NCB officers not to waste resources and time on cases involving possession of small quantities of drugs — which can be handled by the police — and instead focus on organised narco-terror and international mafia is a welcome step. It is equally vital to hold accountable overzealous officials who often misuse their power.

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