Mumbai cruise drugs party: Aryan Khan arrested, taken to court with 2 others

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Sunday arrested Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan (SRK), along with two others – Arbaaz Seth Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha – in connection with recovery of narcotics during raids onboard a cruise ship anchored off the Mumbai coast on Saturday night. The NCB has demanded two-day custody of the accused, who were taken to court late on Sunday.

Aryan was earlier being questioned by the agency, while there has been no official reaction yet from Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) or his family about the whole incident. Reports say SRK was planning to travel to Europe, but now he might postpone the trip to deal with the crisis.

Apart from Aryan Khan, the other persons detained were identified as Dhamecha, Nupur Sarika, Ismeet Singh, Mohak Jaswal, Vikrant Chhoker, Gomit Chopra and Arbaaz Merchant, as per a PTI report.

Reports said eight persons in all, including two women, were detained and have been taken for medical tests.

The agency said that drugs including ecstasy, cocaine, mephedrone and charas were recovered from the cruise party.

“During the operation, all suspects as per the information were searched for various drugs like MDMA/ecstasy, cocaine, MD (mephedrone) and charas has been recovered. A total of 8 persons have been apprehended and their role being investigated in relation to the said recovery,” the agency was quoted as stating.

The detained individuals will be brought back to Mumbai on Sunday. Arrests will be made based on the fact and the accused will be produced in the NDPS court, a senior NCB officer told NDTV.

Sameer Wankhede, Zonal Director of NCB told India Today that Aryan, 23, has not been booked or arrested so far. His cellphone, however, has been confiscated and is being examined to get more clues about the party.

The NCB has also summoned six of the organisers of the cruise event, including FTV India’s managing director Kashiff Khan, for questioning.

The department is also examining the chats received on the seized phones of the detainees to get more information on the rave party.

There were hundreds of passengers on the ship which was bound for Goa. Acting on a tip-off that a party was scheduled on the ship, an NCB team, led by Wankhede, boarded the vessel and conducted searches.

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Banned narcotic drugs were recovered from some of the passengers, the official said, adding that no passenger has been allowed to disembark from the cruise and probe was on.