Cruise drugs raid: Man accused of supplying charas is 16th person to get bail

NCB had claimed that they have seized 62 grams of charas from Harijan which was part of the city’s supply network

A special court on Monday granted bail to Shivraj Ramdas Harijan, who was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) for allegedly supplying drugs to Arbaaz Merchant – a friend of Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan. Merchant and Aryan were arrested by the agency in the cruise drugs bust case and later granted bail. Harijan, 33, is the 16th of the nearly 20 accused in the case to get bail.

The lawyer of the accused had argued that the charas that was claimed to have been seized from his client’s home was of small quantity, and as such, it was a bailable offence. (Photo for representation)

The agency had claimed that they have seized 62 grams of charas from Harijan which was part of the city’s supply network.

Harijan’s counsel Sandeep Sherkhane informed special NDPS court judge VV Patil that his client was falsely implicated in the case and made a scapegoat because of “media hype”. Sherkhane also argued Harijan had no links with Merchant and that he had never met or seen any of the other accused in the case in his lifetime.

He had argued that the charas that was claimed to have been seized from Harijan was small in quantity, and as such, it was a bailable offence. He had also submitted that even if the contraband seized from the different accused is added, it still would not be enough to make them liable for commercial quantity.

Harijan was arrested on the basis of statement given by Merchant to NCB officers under section 67 (any authorised officer may, during any inquiry, call for information from any person to satisfy himself whether there has been any contravention of the provisions of the Act) of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, but such a statement is not even admissible as evidence and cannot be relied upon, Sherkhane had submitted. He also claimed that Merchant had retracted his statement before a magistrate court.

Harijan was arrested by NCB on October 10. The agency claimed to have found charas from Harijan’s home at Murugan Chawl in Santacruz (West) during searches. NCB had also claimed then Harijan was an “important” part of city’s charas supply chain.

Based on a tip-off that a rave party was scheduled on the ship off the Mumbai coast, an NCB team led by zonal director Sameer Wankhede raided the Goa-bound Cordelia cruise on the evening of October 2. Aryan was granted bail by the Bombay high court on October 28.