Mumbai: In its remand application seeking custody of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant, and Munmun Dhamecha, the NCB said the trio was arrested for consumption, sale and purchase of contraband under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985. An official, however, said that Khan has been booked only for consumption under Section 27 of the Act, which attracts a maximum punishment of one year or with fine which may extend to Rs 20,000.

Khan, Merchant and Dhamecha were picked up late Saturday and were questioned at the NCB office at Ballard Pier. “Khan was apologetic when we asked him to accompany us to the NCB office,” an official said. They were taken for medical examination at JJ Hospital at 4 pm on Sunday. Khan was wearing a black T-shirt and cap and wore a face mask. They were brought back to the NCB office within 40 minutes and produced before a holiday court at 7 pm.

NCB officials said that they did not recover any contraband from Khan, but found a small quantity of charas in Merchant’s shoes. The duo was sharing a room in the cruise liner, the NCB said.

The remand application submitted in the court stated that the NCB has found WhatsApp chats “clearly showing the nexus of those arrested with suppliers and peddlers on a regular basis”.

NCB counsel Advait Sethna argued for their custody, while Satish Maneshinde said police remand for a bailable offence would be unfair. Seeking the trio’s custody, Sethna submitted that while some were produced on Sunday, others will be produced in a day or two, so he wanted two days’ “reasonable custody” as the NCB has apprehended a supplier and wanted to probe a “link shown through WhatsApp chats”.

But Maneshinde said nothing was shown to have been found on Khan. “He was invited by the organisers. He had no boarding pass,” he said, adding that Khan’s mobile phone was examined but apparently nothing significant was found on it.

NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede said if required, they will seek Khan’s further custody in the sessions court on Monday.

Khan and Merchant were given free entry on the cruise liner and the organisers hoped to capitalise on the former’s celebrity quotient for furthering their business interests, an official said. There were six organisers for the voyage who had charged anything from Rs 60,000 to Rs 3 lakh for a ticket.

“The Austrian owner of the ship has been summoned,” said an NCB officer.

Officials said they had been working on the information that drugs would be consumed and raided the Cordelia Cruises. “We have been working on it for the past 15 days. We visited the international cruise terminal, posed as passengers and while entering the ship we disclosed our identity to the private security guards,” an official said.

The NCB said that in the rooms, they found material to facilitate consumption of drugs like ready-to-roll joints, paper and the like. “Hence, we need to establish if the organisers were unaware about the drugs consumption,” an official said.

Jurgen Bailom, CEO and president, Waterways Leisure Tourism Pvt Ltd, said, “Cordelia Cruises is in no way, directly or indirectly, connected to this incident. Cordelia Cruises had chartered its ship for a private event to a Delhi-based event management company-...We... condemn all such acts ... and are cooperating with the authorities”. On Sunday, Bailon visited the NCB office where his statement was recorded.

(Inputs: Swati Deshpande)