BackMumbai cruise drugs case: Aryan Khan sent to 14-day judicial custody, bail hearing tomorrow
The Narcotics Control Bureau had sought custody of Aryan Khan, Arbaz Seth Merchant, and Munmun Dhamecha till 11 October
PremiumMumbai cruise drugs case: A Mumbai court on Thursday sent Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, and seven others to judicial custody for 14 days in connection with cruise ship drugs case.
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had sought custody of Aryan Khan, Arbaz Seth Merchant, and Munmun Dhamecha till 11 October. However, the court rejected the prayer, saying simply remanding the accused to custody without reason is cogent ground for violating liberty.
Therefore on vague grounds in remand application, each accused cannot be granted extended custody, the court said.
The Esplanade Magistrate court said that it will hear the bail plea of Aryan Khan at 11 am tomorrow (Friday). The court has asked the NCB to file reply by then.
According to ANI, the accused will be kept in the NCB office in judicial custody till tomorrow because jail would not accept new inmates at this hour.
While seeking extension of custody, the anti-drugs agency told the court that it was still conducting raids and "anyone arrested in those raids would be needed to be confronted with the present accused".
The NCB said it arrested Aachit Kumar with contraband on 6 October. Aachit Kumar has been named by Aryan Khan. "Further during inquiry of Arbaaz Merchant the name of Aachit was revealed. Hence for further investigation confrontation with the already arrested persons is necessary," it said in its remand copy.
The central agency further informed that it has apprehended Abdul Kadar Sheikh with commercial quantity of Ecstacy. "Hence confrontation of these respondents with the said accused no. 17 Aachit Kumar and the intercepted foreign national is essential for the investigation of the case and to ascertain the role played by each individual in this nexus in the supply chain," it said.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the court remanded Aarchit Kumar to NCB's custody till 9th October. He is alleged to have supplied drugs to Aryan Khan and Arbaaz Merchant.
In the last hearing on Monday, the Esplanade Court in Mumbai had sent Aryan Khan, Arbaz Seth Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha in the NCB custody till 7 October. Khan's lawyer Satish Maneshinde had argued that no substance was seized from his client and "if any substance is seized from any other persons (co-accused) that doesn't make any grounds to take my client into custody".
He said Khan was a special invitee and landed there with another friend. "The panchnama does not indicate anything seized from me except my mobile. My friend was arrested because he had 6 gms of charas, with which even I was not connected," Khan's lawyer had said.
Representing NCB, ASG Anil Singh, however, said the agency had raided a supplier and found commercial quantity of banned substances. He said there were links in Khan's chats indicating towards an international racket, and that there were several suspected characters whose identification was yet to be done.
The ASG further said the person may not be found with commercial quantity but then custody is required to find out the source, chain or links. "Where is the financing made, who is the source, all this needs to be found out. So we are only asking for a few more days of custody," he said.
The NCB last Saturday carried out raids at an alleged rave party at a cruise off Mumbai coast. It seized 13 grams of cocaine, 5 grams of MD, 21 grams of charas and 22 pills of Ecstasy and ₹1.33 lakh.
The agency detained eight persons — Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant, Munmun Dhamecha, Nupur Sarika, Ismeet Singh, Mohak Jaswal, Vikrant Chhoker, Gomit Chopra.
After hours of intense questioning, the anti-drugs agency formally arrested Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant, and Munmun Dhamecha. Three persons have been booked under Section 8C, 20B, 27 (Punishment for consumption of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance) and 35 (Presumption of culpable mental state) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS Act).
Khan, Merchant, and Dhamecha were first sent to one-day NCB custody which was later extended to 7 October. Today, they were produced again before the court, which sent them to judicial custody for 14 days .
So far, the agency has carried out multiple search operations and arrested 16 persons in connection with cruise drug party case. "A total of 16 arrests have been made in this case, probe underway. There are some links (related to bitcoin), but can't share them for now. It will hamper the investigation," said Sameer Wankhede, NCB's Mumbai Zonal Director.
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