Two accused get bail in drugs bust case

The special NDPS judge Vaibhav Patil granted bail to Sahu and Rajgaria on furnishing personal bonds of ₹50,000 each and one or two sureties in the same amount.

The special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) court on Tuesday granted bail to two accused— Avin Sahu and Manish Rajgaria— arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau in connection with the drugs bust case. This is the first bail granted to any of the 20 accused in the case.

Sahu and Rajgaria were arrested on October 5, after the holiday cruise ship Cordelia returned from Goa. (Shutterstock)

The special NDPS judge Vaibhav Patil granted bail to Sahu and Rajgaria on furnishing personal bonds of ₹50,000 each and one or two sureties in the same amount.

Sana Raees Khan, who argued for Sahu, told the court that the only allegation against him was that he had consumed ganja twice while on the cruise. However, there was no medical report and nothing was found in his possession. “My case is slightly different from the case of Aryan Khan. In his case also there was no possession but there were chats or messages. In my case, there are no chats or messages. The only allegation against my client was he consumed ganja twice on the ship and the maximum punishment was one year’s imprisonment, even if the charge is accepted to be true. The material seized from others can’t be foisted on him,” Raees told the court.

Advocates Taraq Sayed and Vikas Bhawaniya argued for Rajgaria that nothing was found in his possession. They pointed out that in Rhea Chakraborty’s case also, the agency had arrested 33 people, however, not all of them were connected to each other. By adding the charge of conspiracy, the agency is claiming that whatever has been recovered from one, can be attributed to all, but the agency has failed to show any nexus between the accused.

NCB’s counsels Advait Sethna and Ruju Thakker, however, said that even after the raid and detention of several guests, Sahu had consumed ganja twice and 2.4 grams of ganja was seized from the security guard. The guard claimed that the ganja was given to him by Rajgaria.

Sahu and Rajgaria were arrested on October 5, after the holiday cruise ship Cordelia returned from Goa.

On October 20, the special NDPS refused to grant bail to Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and two others in the case.