No bail for Aryan Khan yet; HC adjourns hearing till tomorrow
Aryan Khan may have to spend one more night in the Arthur Road jail as the Bombay High Court, hearing the much-publicized drugs-on-cruise case, on Wednesday (October 27) adjourned the case by a day.
The Bombay HC will now hear the case at 2.30 pm on Thursday (October 28).
On Wednesday, the Bombay High Court resumed hearing on the bail plea of Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan, and two others – Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha.
Advocate Amit Desai, arguing for Merchant, said the NCB’s charge of conspiracy has no basis because even after 23 days of the cruise raid no person has been arrested on the “conspiracy charge”.
Meanwhile, NCP leader Nawab Malik continued his tirade against NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede, saying the top anti-drug officer forged documents to get this job. Malik, who is a minister in the Maharashtra cabinet, said he would quit politics if his allegations over Wankhede’s certificates are proved wrong.
Wankhede, however, said Malik’s charges are false. Meanwhile, Wankhede’s wife Kranti Redkar has filed a case against Nawab Malik at Oshiwara police station.
Aryan’s case is being represented in the HC by former attorney general Mukul Rohatgi and senior lawyer Satish Maneshinde while Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Anil Singh appeared for the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
Rohatgi concluded his arguments on Tuesday. On Wednesday, advocate Ali Kaashif Khan Deshmukh argued for Munmun Dhamecha while senior counsel Amit Desai defended Arbaaz Merchant.
Deshmukh said in the court that the case against Dhamecha is “completely bogus” and the NCB has failed to prove charges against her.
A day earlier, Rohatgi had called Aryan’s arrest “arbitrary” and argued that Shah Rukh Khan’s son was wrongfully arrested though there was “no consumption or possession of drugs” and cases involving such small quantities of drug called for rehab rather than jail.
He had also said the case against Aryan was based on old WhatsApp chats that were “irrelevant” and had nothing to do with the cruise. There was no recovery, no consumption and therefore “no need to arrest” him.
The NCB on Tuesday filed an affidavit opposing Aryan’s bail plea on the reasoning that he is an influential person and likely to tamper with evidence or flee justice if released. It also said Aryan was in touch with persons abroad who were a part of an international drug network. And according to the NCB, Shah Rukh Khan’s manager Pooja Dadlani was already influencing the probe in the case.
Also read: No bail for Aryan Khan yet; another hearing in HC tomorrow
Aryan has been in jail since October 8 and was arrested after an NCB drug raids on a cruise ship on October 3. The agency has so far nabbed 19 other people in the case.
Aryan has been denied bail twice before, with the special anti-drugs court last week saying Aryan knew about charas hidden in friend Arbaaz Merchant’s shoe, and this amounted to “conscious possession”.
In the Bombay High Court, a single-judge bench of Justice Nitin W Sambre is hearing the case. Today, senior counsel Amit Desai is set to continue arguments for co-accused Arbaaz Merchant, followed by hearing on another co-accused Munmun Dhamecha’s bail plea. ASG Anil Singh is likely to put forth his arguments for the NCB at the end.
