The Murky World Of Mumbai’s 'Coke Daddies': Aryan Khan Is Only A Tip Of The Iceberg

The Narcotics Control Bureau on Sunday arrested Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan after it carried out a raid and busted a rave party on a cruise ship mid-sea off the Mumbai coast.

An insider from the film industry said, “Why only pull-out Bollywood? All the rich and famous in Mumbai are into rave drug parties. But NCB will never pull out the industrialists because that doesn’t make news like the way Bollywood does. Pulling out Bollywood and naming and raiding the stars and star kids gives a kind of publicity to NCB. It is always easy to put Bollywood names in the wrong places. I admit these parties are common not only in Bollywood, but most of the crème de la crème parties of Mumbai. But NCB seems to be just obsessed with Bollywood.”

NCB zonal director, Sameer Wankhede said to a news channel that the investigation will continue to find the subsequent links. Ship management and organisers of this particular party are also being called.

 A video surfaced on social media showed how the high and mighty of Bollywood conducted drug parties. It was a Karan Johar party and all the who’s who of Bollywood were seen stoned. The video was on Twitter saying “Watch how the high and mighty of Bollywood proudly flaunt their drugged state!!” It ran with a hashtag #UDTABollywood.

Last year during this time, the NCB was trying to find out the Bollywood drug connection after Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. During that time Kangana Ranaut tweeted that actors Ranveer Singh, Ranbir Kapoor, Ayan Mukerji, Vicky Kaushal to give their blood samples for drug test, there are rumours that they are cocaine addicts.”

The fashion industry is also known for the rampant use of drugs. Model Monikangana Dutta had once revealed to DNA, “Coke daddies exist! I have seen people doing it. Everyone is into something or the other in the fashion world. This industry is all about sex and drugs! Though I don’t know why people make such a big deal about sex. It's basic — you need it. As for drugs, if you want to do it, don’t do it publicly.” 

Not just Bollywood kids, a walk down Colaba Causeway where some of the best schools and colleges of Mumbai are located, you can spot and smell young students smoking up in the narrow lanes and bylanes of Maximum city. So, why does it become big news when a Bollywood kid gets involved in a drug racket?

Stating a few cases of kids taking drugs, Dr Harish Shetty, a psychiatrist in Mumbai had told Outlook, “A 14-year-old boy was brought to me by his parents with a history of breaking a glass door with his hand. He was a topper and was an excellent sportsperson too. I suspected substance use and got the urine test done. The parents were shocked and were in disbelief to know that their son was taking drugs.” He says that chronic drug use can damage the memory, kill one emotionally and lead to behavioural changes in kids.

Sadly, recreational drugs have become easily available since it has a very aggressive market and unlike alcohol and regular cigarettes it is very difficult to find out whether your child is taking drugs or not. Shetty says, “Kids are often spotted after a game of football or cricket socialising with weed. And this goes completely unsupervised. It is mainly the older kids who introduce the younger ones to this habit.”

‘Meow Meow’ is a drug which is very common among kids and it is easily available. Meow Meow is the code name for Mephedrone which is a powerful recreational drug and is common among school and college going kids. MDMA is another drug that is common among kids in the age group of 16 to 18- years- old. Talking about the cheapest drugs, Dr Shetty says, “There are many cases that come to me and the most commonly used drugs among school kids is hash and weed because they are the cheapest. Since it has no strong smell like alcohol, it is easy to hide it from the parents. What kids do is put eye drops to clear the eyes because your eyes generally tend to become red after taking drugs. There are a lot of long-term hazards, but they take it for the momentary high and every city kid has a lot of money in their pockets these days.”