The Bombay High Court on Thursday granted bail to Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan, in the cruise ship drug case.
A single-judge Justice Nitin Sambre of Bombay High Court also granted bail to two other co-accused Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha. The detailed order setting out conditions for bail will be pronounced tomorrow, the judge added.
Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, representing the NCB, told the High High Court today that the case against the accused is not for consumption but for ‘conscious possession and plan to consume’.
In this regard, the ASG highlighted Section 29 of the NDPS Act which deals with conspiracy.
“Section 29 does not say that the person has to be in possession. He made an attempt to deal with commercial quantity,” the ASG said.
In this regard, Singh highlighted the WhatsApp chats of Khan and said that the subsequent recovery of drugs from eight co-accused corroborated what was stated in WhatsApp chats.
Further, he also said that the total quantity of drugs recovered is ‘commercial quantity’ under the NDPS Act.
However, senior Counsel Mukul Rohatgi, representing Khan, denied any kind of conspiracy as according to hime there was no meeting of minds.
“If there are people in a hotel in different rooms and they smoke are all people in hotel in conspiracy? There is no material for calling it a conspiracy in this case,” he said.
He also maintained that the only person he knew was Arbaaz Merchant.
Khan was taken into custody by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on October 2, 2021 after the NCB raided a cruise ship en route to Goa from Mumbai.
He was placed under arrest on October 3 and charged with offences under Section 8(c), 20(b), 27, 28, 29 and 35 under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
He was remanded to NCB custody till October 4, which was extended till October 7. Thereafter, he was remanded to judicial custody after which he immediately moved for bail.
