Shashi Tharoor called for people to show empathy towards the Khan family on the matter. (File)
In light of the media frenzy surrounding the arrest of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan in the Mumbai drugs-on-cruise case, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday said he is "repelled by the ghoulish epicaricacy" of those who are "witch-hunting" Shah Rukh Khan, and called for empathy towards the high-profile family's situation.
Following a raid at a party on a cruise ship off the coast of Mumbai, Aryan Khan, 23, was arrested along with seven others by the anti-drugs agency Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Sunday. After appearing in a Mumbai court, Aryan Khan was denied bail on Monday, and sent to NCB custody till Thursday.
Amid sensationalist reactions to Aryan Khan's arrest, Mr Tharoor tweeted, "I am no fan of recreational drugs & haven't ever tried any, but I am repelled by the ghoulish epicaricacy displayed by those now witch-hunting @iamsrk on his son's arrest. Have some empathy, folks. The public glare is bad enough; no need to gleefully rub a 23yr old's face in it."
The raids on the Mumbai cruise produced a haul of 13 grams of cocaine, 21 grams of charas, 22 pills of MDMA and 5 grams of MD, the anti-narcotics bureau said. The drugs were found hidden in clothes, underwear and purses, reported news agency Press Trust of India, quoting an unnamed official of the NCB.
Aryan Khan has argued that he was a special invitee to the cruise ship and "cannot be roped in with the entire seizure in the case".