Aryan Khan’s judicial custody extended till Oct 30, Bombay HC to hear bail plea on Oct 26 – Economic Times

A special Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS )court on Thursday extended Aryan Khan’s judicial custody till October 30. The 23-year-old will stay lodged in Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail until he is granted bail in the drugs-on-cruise case.

The Bombay High Court will hear the bail application filed by Aryan on October 26, the court said on Thursday. It has also ordered the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) to submit its reply in the case by Monday.

Aryan sought bail in the High Court today after a special court in Mumbai on Wednesday rejected his bail plea in drugs case. The case was mentioned on Thursday at 10.30am before Justice N W Sambre seeking urgent hearing.

The court on Wednesday had observed that Aryan was indulging in “illicit drug activities on a regular basis” while denying him bail. Aryan’s WhatsApp chats also showed, prima facie, that he was in touch with drug peddlers, the court noted.

The special NDPS Act court in its 21-page order noted that the WhatsApp chats of Aryan Khan prima facie revealed that he was “dealing in illicit drug activities on a regular basis” and therefore it cannot be said that he was not likely to commit a similar offence if released on bail.

Meanwhile, Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan visited son Aryan in Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail on Thursday ahead of his bail hearing in the Bombay High Court. This was the first time that SRK visited his son after the latter was arrested in the drugs-on-cruise case. The actor, along with his wife Gauri, had spoken to Aryan on a video call over the weekend.

Aryan was arrested with a few others on October 3 after the NCB raided a Goa-bound cruise ship off the Mumbai coast and claimed to have seized drugs including charas (hashish).

What court said on Wednesday while rejecting bail
V V Patil, special judge for the NDPS court, rejected the bail pleas of Aryan Khan, his friend Arbaaz Merchant and model Munmun Dhamecha on Wednesday. An hour later, Aryan and Dhamecha’s lawyers moved the Bombay High Court seeking bail.

The court in its order said that Aryan knew that his friend and co-accused Merchant was in possession of drugs, and hence there was “conscious possession” even though the NCB had not found any drugs on Aryan himself.

“Considering the prima facie involvement of the applicants/accused No 1 to 3 (Aryan Khan, Merchant and Dhamecha) in commission of grave and serious offence, this is not a fit case for granting bail,” the judge said in the order while denying bail to accused. The voluntary statements and case papers of Aryan and Arbaaz revealed that they possessed drugs for consumption and enjoyment, the court noted further.

In Aryan’s WhatsApp chats, there is reference to “bulk quantity and hard drugs” and “there is prima facie material showing that accused No 1 was in contact with persons dealing in prohibited narcotic substances,” the order said.

Earlier, a magistrate’s court had rejected the accused’s bail pleas, saying only a special court can hear these matters.

Aryan, Merchant and Dhamecha, among others, were detained on October 2 by the NCB during a rain on a cruise ship off Mumbai coast on its way to Goa. They were placed under arrest on October 3 in the matter and sent on custody.

So far, Aryan’s bail plea has been rejected over three times. The 23-year-old is currently lodged in Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail in judicial custody. While Dhamecha is lodged at the Byculla women’s prison in the city. So far, 20 persons have been arrested in the case.

Aryan, who has spent over 17 days in custody so far, earlier received a money order of Rs 4,500 from his parents which he can use to buy food and water from the jail’s canteen. All the undertrials in the Arthur Road jail are allowed to speak to their family via video call once or twice a week since meeting in person isn’t allowed amid Covid-19 crisis in the country.