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Cruise ship drugs case: NDPS court grants bail to nine more
The court also granted the request for temporary cash bail so as to ensure their quick release from the jail instead of waiting till sureties were arranged
A special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) court on Saturday granted bail to nine accused in the cruise ship drugs case including Aachit Kumar, arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) for allegedly supplying drugs to Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan and his friend Arbaaz Merchant.
Others granted bail by special NDPS judge Vaibhav Patil include make-up artist Gomit Chopra, Gurgaon resident Nupur Satija and four persons associated with a Delhi-based event management firm, Canplus Trading Private Limited. They include directors Sameer Sehgal and Gopalji Anand, and employees Manav Singhal and Bhaskar Arora.
Later in the day, the special court also granted bail to Ishmeet Singh Chadha, a new Delhi resident arrested for alleged possession and consumption of narcotics, and Shreyas Nair, whom the agency termed as a drug peddler.
The court also granted their request for temporary cash bail, so as to ensure their quick release from the jail instead of waiting till sureties are arranged.
In all, 14 out of the 20 people arrested in the case, have received bail, while six accused -- Vikrant Chhokar, Mohak Jaswal, Abdul Kadir Sheikh, Shivraj Harijan and Nigerian nationals Chinedu Igwe and Okaro Ouzamo -- have either not applied for bail or their bail pleas have yet not been heard.
Aachit Kumar was arrested by NCB on October 6, purportedly on the basis of WhatsApp chats exchanged between him and Aryan and Arbaaz. NCB claimed that it had seized 2.6 grams of marijuana from his Powai residence.
While the agency claimed that Aachit was a drug peddler, his lawyers refuted the claim and maintained that the young boy, studying in United Kingodom was innocent. He argued that the college student cannot be termed a drug peddler and that the seizure memorandum was fabricated.
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The four event organisers argued that they had no role to play with the drug seizures on the cruise and had specifically and clearly warned the guests about the need to abstain from drugs or other illegal substances in view of their zero tolerance policy towards consumption and distribution of drugs.
NCB claimed to have seized four MDMA pills from Nupur Satija and Gomit Chopra. Gomit argued that the mandatory procedure under section 50 of NDPS Act was not followed while seizing the contraband material and therefore the seizure itself was illegal. The panchanama was not done at the spot, as mandated by the law, his lawyer had argued said.
The special NDPS court on October 26 granted bail to two Odisha residents – Manish Rajgaria and Avin Sahu, both of whom were arrested by NCB for alleged consumption after the holiday cruise returned from Goa on October 5. Besides, Bombay high court granted bail to Aryan, Arbaaz and model Munmun Dhamecha. Aryan came out of Arthur Road jail on Saturday morning.
