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New Delhi: India’s high-profile criminal lawyer and former Bigg Boss 17 contestant, Sana Raees Khan, has once again sparked an important conversation around law enforcement and media accountability. In an exclusive interview with TV9 English’s Vanshika Singh, the advocate reflected on the 2021 Aryan Khan drug case and stated that the incident exposed deep flaws in India’s drug-enforcement mechanisms, flaws she believes still remain unaddressed.
Sana, who has built a formidable reputation through her work in the Bombay High Court and Supreme Court of India, became a prominent voice during the Aryan Khan investigation. She later featured in Netflix’s docuseries The Indrani Mukerjea Story: Buried Truth (2024), further cementing her role in some of the country’s most widely discussed cases.
When asked whether the cruise-ship case revealed long-standing gaps in India’s investigative framework, Sana didn’t hesitate. “100%. The case exposed a system too eager to sensationalise and too slow to self-correct. And let’s be honest, many of those flaws still exist because the system hasn’t been forced to evolve,” she said.
She added that despite the public outcry, accountability has remained limited. “We still see procedural violations being brushed aside. And we still see the danger of ‘trial by media’ which can damage reputations permanently, even when no evidence exists. The Aryan Khan case should have been a turning point. Instead, it became a reminder that unless our enforcement framework becomes more accountable, similar injustices will repeat themselves.”
In October 2021, Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) during a raid on a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast. He faced allegations of possession, consumption and conspiracy under the NDPS Act.
The case dominated news cycles nationwide. Aryan spent nearly 22–25 days in custody before being granted bail on October 28. By May 2022, the NCB officially cleared him of all charges, stating that there was insufficient evidence to pursue the allegations.
The controversy raised pressing questions about celebrity-targeted investigations, legal overreach and the impact of media trials on public perception.
