A Mumbai court rejected the bail plea of Bollywood super star Shah Rukh Khan‘s son Aryan Khan and two other in the drugs seizure case. The accused were to judicial custody by the Magistrate’s court on Thursday.
“Mumbai’s Esplanade court rejects bail plea of Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Khan and Munmun Dhamecha, in the case related to the seizure of drugs following a raid at a party on a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast,” news agency ANI tweeted.
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The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) made a strong plea for an extension of custody of Aryan Khan (23) and the other accused, saying they need to be confronted with another man arrested in the case to unearth the “chain of conspiracy”.
The 23-year-old was arrested on Saturday after the NCB raided a cruise ship going from Mumbai to Goa. Seventeen people have been arrested in the case so far. According to media reports citing NCB sources, no drugs were found on Aryan Khan, but the agency has made the case that Khan’s WhatsApp chats suggest involvement of international drug cartels and require deeper investigation.
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The NCB found 13 grams of cocaine, 21 grams of charas, 22 pills of MDMA and 5 grams of MD, the anti-drugs bureau said. The drugs were found hidden in clothes, underwear and purses, reported news agency Press Trust of India, quoting an unnamed official.
According to the NCB, a person named Archit Kumar, was arrested on the basis of Aryan Khan’s statement and Khan will be confronted with Kumar. Making an observation on NCB’s contention, the court said, “We cannot discuss what took the investigation team so much time to arrest the accused with whom they need to be confronted.”
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The NCB has said that Archit Kumar supplied drugs and WhatsApp chats among Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha show that payment for drugs were discussed.
While the NCB pushed for extension of custody of Aryan Khan, the court said that police custody of an accused without cogent reason would amount to violation of fundamental rights. The court added that the accused cannot be sent to custody of the investigating agency on “vague grounds”.
