As Aryan Khan spends time behind bars waiting for bail, the Narcotics Control Bureau has used its soft skills to counsel him on the ill effects of drugs on the social fabric. A senior NCB officer told mid-day that the son of actor Shahrukh Khan has promised them that he would be taking the responsibility to uplift the downtrodden people, including cancer patients, from Bandra and nearby areas.
The young Khan was arrested on October 3 after the anti-drugs agency busted a rave party aboard a cruise liner heading for Goa. An officer said all others arrested in the case have also been counselled at NCB’s Mumbai office in the presence of top officers. “We have been taking a lot of efforts to eradicate drugs from the society and have arrested many people in consumption cases … but what we noticed is that people have not quit consuming drugs despite knowing the fact that they can be re-arrested by the agency,” said a senior NCB officer
An agency source said they focus beyond seizures and arrests through counselling sessions. NCB has reeled in religious leaders for these efforts led by its Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede, who has carried out multiple raids in and around Mumbai in past months. The top officer himself steps in to enlighten drug-dependent youth with the ill effects of substance abuse, said a source. “We have roped in religious leaders from ISKON temple and Ulemas who visit our office to help the accused [arrested in drug consumption cases] quit drugs,” said the source.
Another source said, “It was much required as we have arrested not less than 300 youth for consumption but they were not quitting drugs after getting bail. So if the youth is religious, we have started to give them spiritual and holy books to study during our custody; and if they are not much inclined towards their religions, our zonal director himself takes a session and convinces them to take some social responsibilities like helping poor people, orphans, beggars, street dwellers, and others to uplift them, to feed them.”
“Aryan Khan belongs to a high-profile family. So he has been asked to help cancer patients, adopt some families to take care of their well-being, help them with food, etc. so that he can know the world beyond rave parties,” said an NCB officer. Officials have bought holy books including the Bible, Quran Shareef in Hindi and Arabic, and a copy of Bhagavad Gita. “These books are read by those who have been arrested in a drug consumption case… besides strictly reading the holy books, these youth have been asked to do shram daan like keeping their premises neat and clean. These are the parts of the deaddiction session,” said the officer.
“Besides Khan, the others arrested in the cruise drug bust case have been strictly asked to read the religious books or do shram daan and help the destitute instead of deteriorating their health and wasting money on drugs,” said the officer.
Surjitt Sahani
