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Bombay HC to hear Aryan Khan’s bail plea on Oct 26
The NCB also submitted before the special court that Aryan Khan was aware that his co-accused Arbaaz Merchant was in possession of the contraband before they were to board the cruise ship
The Bombay high court will hear the bail application of Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan next Tuesday on October 26. The application challenges the special NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) court’s refusal of bail to Aryan in the cruise drug bust case.
The court set the date after advocate Satish Maneshinde requested the single judge bench of justice Nitin Sambre for an early hearing. The court also directed the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) to file its reply by Monday, October 25.
The bench declined the request to hear the plea through video conferencing and said it will be through physical mode. The bail plea of model Munmun Dhamecha, another accused in the case, will also be heard on Tuesday.
The special NDPS court had rejected Aryan’s bail applications on Wednesday, observing that a prima facie case of conspiracy and illicit drug trade by the accused was made out. The special court had reached the conclusion based on WhatsApp chats recovered from the mobile phone of Aryan Khan and his friend Arbaaz Merchant, which, the NCB had argued, showed that the accused were involved in dealing with the narcotic substances on a regular basis.
The NCB also submitted before the special court that Aryan Khan was aware that his co-accused Arbaaz Merchant was in possession of the contraband before they were to board the cruise ship.
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Aryan Khan’s lawyers have so far argued that since no drugs were found on Khan he was eligible for bail and that there was no basis to the NCB’s suggestion that Aryan could be part of an illegal drugs trading syndicate.
Earlier in the day, Shahrukh Khan visited Aryan, who is lodged in Arthur Road Jail. Aryan was arrested along with several others on October 3 in connection with a drug seizure on a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast following a raid by the NCB. A total of 20 people have been arrested so far in the case.
