Aryan Khan, two co-accused granted bail in drug-on-cruise case

The Bombay High Court on Thursday granted bail to Aryan Khan and co-accused Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha, who were arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in the drugs-on-cruise case.




The 23-year-old, who is son of Superstar Shah Rukh Khan has been in custody since October 3, hours after raids on a cruise ship party by the anti-drugs agency. Court will pronounce the detailed order with reasons tomorrow a 2:30 pm. Bail conditions will also be decided at the same time. Khan has been in Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail since October 8, had been denied bail twice before. Khan, however, will not be released from jail tonight. All three will be coming out of jail only after operative part of the order comes tomorrow

Former Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi, representing Aryan Khan called the arrest arbitary and repeatedly pointed out that no drugs had been found on him.

“Khan knew nobody on the ship except for Arbaaz and Achit.” Achit was arrested after four days. He was said to be dealer and had 2.4 grams (of drug). A dealer should have 200 grams,”

“There were 1,300 people on cruise. I did not know anybody else except Arbaaz and Aachit. Their (NCB’s) case is — it is not coincidence and therefore it is conspiracy. Conspiracy is meeting of the minds. It cannot be based on coincidence. You (NCB) failed to prove meeting of minds with these eight people and therefore called them independently. There is absolutely no material for the purpose of conspiracy.”

SG Anil Singh, appearing for NCB, says their arrest is legal. “Conspiracy is difficult to prove, the conspirators know how they conspired. I leave it to the conscious of the court,” he says concluding his submissions.

ASG also cited purported affidavit by Prabhakar Sail and says, “There is a chance of tampering and have said it in NCB reply.”

Meanwhile, Kiran Gosavi, an independent witness in the drug case who went amiss for nearly 20 days after Aryan Khan’s arrest, has been arrested in connection with a cheating case filed in 2018, Pune Police Commissioner Amitabh Gupta said on Thursday, PTI reported.

Gosavi took a selfie with actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan inside the Narcotics Control Bureau’s office. The selfie taken soon after Aryan Khan’s arrest during the cruise ship raid had fueled questions about the anti-drug agency’s investigation in the case.