Mumbai court rejects bail plea of Aryan Khan, 2 others in drugs-on-cruise case

A magistrate court in Mumbai on Friday rejected the bail plea of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan in connection with the recent seizure of drugs during a rave party on a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast.

Stating that the bail application was “not maintainable” the court also scrapped the bail pleas of two other accused Arbaaz Mechant and Munmum Dhamecha.

Aryan and seven other accused in the case have been transferred to jail. They will be kept in a quarantine cell for three to five days. The men have been sent to the Arthur Road Jail while the women have been lodged in the Byculla jail.

During the hearing Additional Solicitor General of India Anil Singh, representing the NCB, had told the court that releasing Aryan would affect the investigation as he could tamper with the evidence.

“They are influential persons…is a chance of tampering with evidence. Had it been one person with small quantity, it would be different. We have a lot of material…protection like bail at this stage will hamper the investigation,” Singh argued, as quoted by NDTV.

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“Everybody is arguing as if we are opposing their right to claim bail. I am opposing their right to claim bail in this court. I am challenging the maintainability of their petition,” he said.

He said that WhatsApp chats found on the phones of Aryan and the other accused cannot be a coincidence.

“They went in the same car. It can’t be a coincidence that all these accused were found in the same place with drugs,” the ASG said. He had earlier said that while the WhatsApp chats refer to a communication of Football, it actually was a code to speak about quantities of drugs.

Earlier, Aryan’s lawyer Satish Maneshinde told the magistrate that the youths deserve to be given the opportunity to get back their freedom as they do not know the consequences of their actions today will have on their future.

Also citing the case of actor Rhea Chakraborty, Maneshinde said the court needs to consider judgments in cases were smaller quantities of drugs were recovered.

On Thursday Aryan and the seven other accused in the case were remanded to 14 days of judicial custody by the magistrate court.

On the request of NCB’s Zonal Director Samer Wankhede, the court on Thursday allowed Aryan and the seven others to spend the night at the NCB headquarters as jail authorities do not receive prisoners after 6 pm and without a COVID-negative certificate. The court had also allowed Aryan to visit his family at the NCB office.

While the Narcotics Control Bureau had requested the custody of the eight accused in the case till October 11, the court had turned down the plea.

While no drugs were found in Aryan’s possession, the NCB said he was supplied drugs by one of the other arrested accused.

The NCB on October 3 arrested Aryan and seven others after conducting raids during a rave party aboard a cruise ship headed for Goa. The anti-drugs team found a stash of drugs including cocaine, charas, MDMA and MD during the raid.

Aryan was denied bail the next day and sent to the NCB’s custody till September 7.