Shah Rukh Khan‘s son Aryan Khan and his friends Arbaaz Seth Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha were Monday sent to Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) custody till October 7 in a drug bust case. The anti-narcotics agency sought extension of the trio’s custody by nine days as it presented them before a court in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Representing the NCB, Additional Solicitor General of India Anil Singh said Aryan, Arbaaz and Munmun had been booked under sections 8C, 20, 27, and 35 of the NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act. They were among eight people detained during an NCB raid on a Goa-bound ship off the Mumbai coast on Saturday night. 

What are the charges against SRK’s son Aryan Khan in the cruise drug case?

Singh said the NCB needed Aryan, Arbaaz and Munmun in custody to “verify facts and their links”. He also told the court that five more people have been arrested and are under investigation. 

“In a society, youngsters are worst affected by the drug menace. We have also intercepted the party organisers,” ANI quoted the ASG as saying in the court.

Aryan’s lawyer Satish Manishinde argued that there was no substance seized from his client that violates the NDPS ACT, 1985. He also said that if any such substances were seized from any of the other accused, it didn’t provide sufficient grounds to keep Aryan in custody. 

The NCB had on Saturday busted a drugs party on board a cruise ship of the Cordelia Cruises company, and arrested Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan and seven others.

A team of NCB sleuths led by zonal director Sameer Wankhede had raided the ship based on a tip-off that a party was scheduled on board. 13 gm of cocaine, 5 gm of MD, 21 gm of charas and 22 pills of ecstasy and Rs 1.33 lakh were seized on board, an official earlier said.

Besides Aryan Khan, the arrested accused were identified as Munmun Dhamecha, Arbaaz Merchant, Ismeet Singh, Mohak Jaswal, Gomit Chopra, Nupur Sarika, and Vikrant Chhokar,