The Soap Opera is Turning Murkier By The Day
By A Special Correspondent
First publised on 2021-10-25 10:23:31
About the Author
The way the Aryan Khan drug-bust case is panning out, it show everyone, including the NCB, its officials, the judiciary and the politicians, in very poor light. The charge against the NCB is clear - it is targeting celebrities and even demanding special punitive action for them to set an example. Does it not recognize that the law is equal for all? Since the celebrities are not demanding any special treatment, how can the agency demand that they be punished more?
The charge against NCB officials is that they are playing to the gallery and are often not following set procedures. They are leaking selective information to their media friends and encouraging them to conduct a media trial. Now, with a whistleblower saying that he overheard people talking of a payoff of Rs 18cr, out of which Rs 8cr was allegedly to be paid to Sameer Wankhede, the officer in charge of Aryan's case, a murkier angle has been added to the case.
Similarly, the lower judiciary's steadfast refusal of bail to Aryan and two others arrested with him shows that despite all conditions - of the accused cooperating with the investigation, of his chances of absconding being non-existent and of his potential of tampering with evidence or threatening witnesses negligible - being met, it refuses to follow the Supreme Court diktat of "bail, not jail" in such cases and of treating personal liberty as supreme. This attitude of the judiciary is baffling, to say the least.
But the worst angle is how Nawab Malik, a minister in the MVA government in Maharashtra, is targeting the NCB and its officials on a daily basis. While he would have been right in criticizing the agency for the manner of its working, the way he is picking on certain officials and releasing personal documents is not done. Even if they are wrong, the agency officials are doing their job. If they have exceeded their limits, the courts will reprimand them and warn them against such excesses in future. But for a politician to do so is against convention and not right.
To set things right, Aryan Khan and others must be given bail and should be punished only if their guilt is proved in a court of law. The allegations of bribe against NCB officials must be probed independently. The Centre must also warn the NCB against playing to the gallery. And Nawab Malik should be told to cease and desist from making his daily allegations.
