HC grants bail to actor Arman Kohli in drugs case

Kohli has been directed to furnish a personal bond of ₹1 lakh along with sureties and also warned against getting involved in similar drug cases and asked to attend the NCB office once a month

Mumbai Actor Arman Kohli, who has been booked under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS), Act 1985 and arrested in August 2021 by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), was granted bail by the Bombay high court (HC) on Tuesday.

Kohli had first moved a bail application last year which was rejected on the grounds that the investigation was going on and there was enough prima facie evidence to incriminate him (HT PHOTO)

Kohli has been directed to furnish a personal bond of ₹1 lakh along with sureties and also warned against getting involved in similar drug cases and asked to attend the NCB office once a month.

The single-judge bench of justice Nitin Sambre, who was hearing the bail application of Kohli, granted the bail after it was informed by advocates Taraq Sayed and Abhishek Yende that the charge sheet had been filed in the case on February 25 and investigation was complete, hence nothing fruitful will come out of keeping him behind bars.

Kohli had first moved a bail application last year which was rejected on the grounds that the investigation was going on and there was enough prima facie evidence to incriminate him. He had then filed a fresh application after the charge sheet was filed.

The actor was arrested on August 28 after the NCB had seized 25 gm of mephedrone from a man in July. The agency had claimed that Kohli was named by the man and hence searched his house and recovered 1.2 gm of cocaine. The agency had arrested five others along with Kohli who were alleged peddlers. The NCB had claimed that it had found photographs and chats regarding an international drug cartel from the seized mobile phone of the actor which was sufficient to incriminate him.

During the hearing of his second application on April 11, Kohli had denied the NCB allegations and stated that there was no admissible evidence against him pertaining to drug trafficking and possessing commercial quantities of the drugs. He had also stated that he was a reputed person in the film industry and was not involved in any alleged activity in respect of financing and illicit trafficking, hence there was no reason to invoke Section 27A of the NDPS Act against him.

However, the NCB had opposed the application and relied on the alleged bank transactions between Kohli and the co-accused and said that until further investigation, he should not be granted bail. However, after the NCB failed to furnish the seizure panchnama of the actor’s phone, the bench granted him bail. A detailed order will be available in due course.