Team News Riveting
Mumbai, October 20
A Mumbai Sessions Court today rejected the bail application filed by Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, in the cruise ship drugs case.
The bail pleas of co-accused Arbaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha were also rejected.
Khan was taken into custody with the other co-accused by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on October 2, 2021 after raiding a cruise ship sailing to Goa from Mumbai.
After registering offences under Section 8(c), 20(b), 27, 28, 29 and 35 under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, he was arrested on October 3. He was remanded to judicial custody after which he immediately moved for bail on October 7.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate R M Nerlikar rejected the bail application, holding that it was not maintainable as only the special court of sessions was entitled to hear the bail plea.
Subsequently, Khan moved the special court under the NDPS Act seeking bail. After submissions were made by Senior Advocate Amit Desai for Khan and Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh for NCB, Additional Sessions Judge V V Patil had reserved the verdict for October 20.
Singh had opposed the bail application filed by Aryan Khan and three others on the ground that they were accused of illicit drug trafficking and criminal conspiracy under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
According to Singh, Khan had exchanges over WhatsApp with supposed dealers involved in international drug trafficking for purported “bulk quantities” of drugs and hence even if the concerned provisions under NDPS Act may not have been arraigned against him, he could be “conspiring” with accused under those sections.
He also added that since Khan is influential and he may end up tampering with evidence or witnesses.
