Cruise drug bust case : Munmun Dhamecha, Arbaaz Merchant walk out of jail too

Arbaaz Merchant and fashion designer Munmun Dhamecha the two other accused who were arrested by the NCB along with actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan in the cruise drug bust case were released from Arthur Road jail and Byculla Women’s Prison, respectively, on Sunday

Arbaaz Merchant and fashion designer Munmun Dhamecha the two other accused who were arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) along with actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan in the cruise drug bust case were released from Arthur Road jail and Byculla Women’s Prison, respectively, on Sunday.

While the trio had been granted bail by the Bombay high court (HC) on Thursday, Mummun Dhamecha and Arbaaz Merchant had to wait till Sunday to ensure that all formalities were completed in the cruise drug bust case. (HT PHOTO)

While the trio had been granted bail by the Bombay high court (HC) on Thursday,Dhamecha and Merchant had to wait till Sunday to ensure that all formalities were completed. Aryan was released on Saturday. The HC had imposed 14 conditions for grant of bail. Dhamecha’s lawyers will be making an application before the NCB seeking permission for her to travel to Madhya Pradesh, her hometown.

Inspector general of police (prison) Ankush Shinde said, “As soon as the paper works were completed Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha both were released”.

Dhamecha’s lawyer Kaashif Khan said, “After the formalities of surety and legal paperwork were completed in the session court on Saturday, we got the release memo around 7.30pm and it was dropped in the letterbox at Byculla women’s prison on the same day. She was released around 11am from jail on Sunday”.

“I am filing an application before the NCB seeking permission to allow her to travel to Delhi and Madhya Pradesh as per the condition from the Bombay high court. Her permanent hometown is in Madhya Pradesh, while she lives in Delhi,” the lawyer said.

Her passport was already seized by NCB while they conducted a search at her Delhi house, added Khan.

Superintendent Nitin Vychal of the Arthur Road jail said, “Arbaaz Merchant was released around 11:30am on Sunday from the jail after the paperwork was completed”.

The HC had in its detailed order asked Aryan, Merchant and Dhamecha to appear before the NCB’s Mumbai office every Friday between 11am to 2pm to mark their presence. Khan said, “Now Dhamecha is staying in Mumbai and her brother’s friends are helping her as she has to report every Friday in the NCB office. But soon we will be filing an application for modification and relaxation of conditions in the HC order because she does not have a house here in Mumbai”.

On Friday afternoon, the HC made available its operative order, in which it imposed 14 bail conditions on Aryan, Merchant and Dhamecha, stipulating their release on a personal bond of ₹1 lakh each, with one or two sureties of the same amount.

Arbaaz Merchant’s father advocate Aslam Merchant said, “My son was released from jail at 11:45am on Sunday. After coming out of jail Arbaaz’s first question was where was his mother?. His mother Aisha Merchant, 48, was waiting in the car about 25 meters away from the jail’s main gate, he then ran to the car and hugged her”.

“Arbaaz has lost almost seven kilograms of weight during his confinement in jail. He is mentally fine but has anxiety problems. He was nervous on Saturday as he was stuck one more day after Aryan Khan was released” said Merchant.

On October 2, the NCB officers stepped aboard a cruise ship anchored at the International Cruise Terminal at Green Gate. Cordellia was set to make its way to Goa before 22 officers led by the agency’s Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede began to search passengers and rooms, based on a tip-off. The team apprehended 14 persons, including Aryan Khan, the 23-year-old son of actor Shah Rukh Khan, Aryan’s friend Arbaaz Merchant and fashion designer Munmun Dhamecha.

The haul included multiple drugs: 13 grams of cocaine, 5 grams of mephedrone, 21 grams of charas, and 22 pills of MDMA (ecstasy). A sum of ₹1.33 lakh was also recovered from the cruise. Merchant purportedly admitted to carrying 6g of charas in a plastic pouch tucked away in his shoe.

Later that evening, all 14 were brought to the NCB office at Ballard Pier in south Mumbai where NCB officers checked their WhatsApp chats, mobile call details and interrogated them for 12 hours. At 2pm on October 3, Khan, Merchant and Dhamecha were put under arrest along with five others for alleged involvement in consumption, sale, purchase and attempt to commit an offence under various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.