Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan, along with all the other accused in the narcotics case has been sent to judicial custody by a Mumbai court in the narcotics case. The court rejected the Narcotics Control Bureau’s (NCB) application for their custody. However, in the absence of the mandatory COVID-19 report and the rule that inmates will not be admitted after 6 pm, Aryan and others will be kept in the NCB office for the night.
Since they have been sent to judicial custody, the legal counsel of Aryan Khan moved the court seeking interim bail on Friday. The magistrate will hear the interim bail application on Friday, October 8, at 11 am. Aryan Khan and seven others were produced before the court on Thursday, October 7. The NCB had sought custody of Aryan Khan and seven others until October 11. The prosecutor argued that custody of all the accused are needed to establish the entire gang operating, reported Live Law.
The judge, hearing both sides of the arguments, said that custodial interrogation of Aryan Khan is not necessary. Appearing for Aryan Khan, advocate Satish Maneshinde said he was invited to the cruise ship to bring glamour to the event, but that he had no connection to the organisers.
Pointing out that Aryan had agreed to one day’s remand on October 3, his counsel however argued that confrontation with the others arrested cannot be grounds for remand to custody. Maneshinde further argued that there were no drugs found on Aryan Khan and he was only interrogated on the basis of his chats, reported Bar and Bench. Furthermore, he can be confronted with Achit Kumar, another accused, even after being granted bail, said his counsel, who added that Aryan did not have any connection to the other arrested.
“Humble submission is that they keep saying that they have to reach the 'main accused.' He (Aryan) cannot be held hostage till they find the main accused,” said Maneshinde, as reported by Bar and Bench.
Meanwhile, Achit Kumar, who allegedly supplied drugs to Aryan Khan, was remanded to custody until Saturday, October 9. His bail plea has been kept in abeyance till his custody. Achit Kumar was allegedly named by Aryan Khan and Arbaz Merchant. According to NCB, Achit Kumar is allegedly part of a ganja trafficking network and 2.6 grams of ganja had been recovered from him. However, Achit’s lawyer argued that the NCB was lying, that he is not part of any network, and he has only been charged with consumption.
Aryan Khan and seven others were detained late Saturday, October 2 night by NCB sleuths after they raided a cruise ship on its way from Mumbai to Goa. According to the Narcotics Control Bureau, an `event' had been organised on the ship, where drugs were allegedly being consumed. The NCB team, led by its zonal director Sameer Wankhede, raided the Goa-bound ship on Saturday evening based on a tip-off that a party was scheduled onboard.
The sleuths seized 13 grams of cocaine, five grams of MD, 21 grams of charas and 22 pills of ecstasy and Rs 1.33 lakh. The NCB has so far arrested 16 people since the raid on the ship on October 2.
Besides Aryan Khan, the arrested are identified as Munmun Dhamecha, Arbaaz Merchant, Ismeet Singh, Mohak Jaswal, Gomit Chopra, Nupur Sarika, and Vikrant Chhokar,.
Aryan Khan has been booked under sections 27 (punishment for consumption of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance), 8C (produce, manufacture, possess, sell or purchase of drugs) and other relevant provisions of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS).
Aryan was denied bail on Monday and sent to custody until Thursday by a Mumbai court. However, in the absence of the mandatory COVID-19 report and the rule that inmates will not be admitted after 6 pm, Aryan and others will continue to be in the NCB custody until tomorrow, Friday, October 8.