From “He was invited” to “he was misled” – How Mumbai Media is shifting goalposts in Aryan Khan case

Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan was arrested on October 2 after Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) carried out a drug bust on the Cordelia cruise ship. Along with Aryan, two accomplices, Arbaz Merchant, and Munmun Dhamecha have been booked as properly for the consumption, sale, and buy of contraband beneath the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985. However, the Bombay media, beneath the heavy affect of ‘King Khan’ has began its customary process of shifting the goalposts to create an alternate actuality of the state of affairs. First got here experiences suggesting that an unsuspecting Aryan was invited to the cruise ship and had no thought in regards to the rave occasion. Then got here optimistic PR experiences, the place it was acknowledged that Aryan was apologetic even after being arrested and cooperated with the NCB.  A TOI report quoted an NCB official as saying, “Khan was apologetic when we asked him to accompany us to the NCB office,” Mumbai: Aryan Khan was apologetic, his buddy hid medication in his shoe, says NCB https://t.co/maabgfq8fC— TOI Mumbai (@TOIMumbai) October 3, 2021While some experiences claimed {that a} gullible Aryan took the onus upon himself to avoid wasting his comrades by hiding the drug in his footwear and lens case, others claimed that Khan was harmless and that medication have been present in his associates’ footwear. A report by India Today says that the medication have been hidden within the lens case owned by Khan. The different accused arrested in possession of medicine had them hidden in drugs containers, footwear, and between sanitary pads. During the investigation, it was confirmed that Aryan was booked when 13 gm cocaine, 21 gm charas, 22 tablets of MDMA (ecstasy), 5 gm MD, and Rs 1.33 lakh in money have been recovered by the NCB. Meanwhile, Mid-Day reported that nothing was discovered on Aryan and that NCB had knowledgeable the court docket that Aryan was booked solely on consumption fees which will entice as much as one 12 months in jail and as much as Rs. 20,000/- as fantastic. Moreover, the remand utility submitted within the court docket acknowledged that the NCB has discovered WhatsApp chats “clearly showing the nexus of those arrested with suppliers and peddlers on a regular basis”. Chats of Aryan Khan reveal that he and his buddy had mentioned unlawful medication on a couple of event. Read extra: Pooja Bhatt, Sunil Shetty, Salman Khan and lots of extra: Bollywood comes out in help of SRK’s son And but, the media continues to current a model as if Aryan is an harmless 23-year-old who needs to be tried as a minor within the case, simply because he’s the son of an influential particular person. The Bollywood A-listers have already given him the clear chit and the paid media is being pressured to parrot the same line.