Mumbai: Senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi sought to distance his client Aryan Khan, son of actor Shah Rukh Khan, from the “unsavoury controversy” involving the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), its witnesses and politicians following his arrest and chose not to cast any motives on investigators. “Khan is not making any allegations against any individual or director in the NCB,’’ he said.

The NCB had said a witness Prabhakar Sail's affidavit makes a “clear case” of alleged tampering by a manager of Khan to derail its probe and that bail should be denied for that reason alone. Rohtagi said he did not want to be sullied by this dispute. But he questioned the change in the stance of NCB, which had attributed the controversy to the personal vendetta of a politician and “now they are trying to rub it off on me by saying there is a manager Pooja.”

Rohtagi said the NCB case against him on WhatsApp chats cannot be considered at the stage of a bail application, adding that the chats were at least a year old and do not pertain to the cruise. The NCB has put much emphasis on the nature of the chats to establish Khan’s role in the alleged conspiracy. It is a case of a 23-year-old, back last year from the US where he was studying, said Rohatgi. “With no possession or consumption, why has this boy been sent to 20 days in jail?”

“I don't want to prejudice the case of A-2 (Arbaaz Merchant, Khan’s friend). He has, I believe, denied possession, but since nothing was found on me (Aryan Khan), you cannot take the case any further,” said Rohatgi. “This is not a case of any masterservant relationship that Khan has asked anyone to bring anything. I have no control over what is found in Arbaaz's shoe. Even if possession is assumed, it was 6 gm and maximum punishment is up to a year,” said Rohatgi who was assisted by Satish Maneshinde.

There is no evidence of any “conspiracy” as alleged by NCB, to connect Khan with illicit trafficking or financing under section 27A of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, which is not even what he has been booked for or charged with, said the senior counsel who flew down from London Monday.

“The charge of conspiracy is to indirectly bring in section 27A of NDPS Act for illicit trafficking, that is what I gather though Aryan had not been charged with 27A,” said Rohatgi.

He also pleaded for a compassionate attitude towards young drug users and for the law to treat them as victims rather than offenders. “In any case there is no material to show that (Aryan Khan) had any truck or meeting of mind with anyone else,” he said. “These are young people. The approach is to not put them in jail. The Act provides for immunity from prosecution if a person is a consumer,” said Rohatgi. “My case is that section 37 (a fetter on bail, requiring court to hold there is no prima facie case against accused to grant bail) doesn't apply because Section 27A (financing) doesn't apply,” said Rohatgi.

The NCB which arrested Khan, Arbaaz and Munmun along with five others following the raid at the international cruise terminal had claimed to have found 5gm of contraband from the floor of Munmun’s cabin on the ship which was to set sail for Goa.

NCB had said all the accused were connected in “conspiracy”. It seized Khan’s mobile phone and opposed his bail citing chats with a “foreign national” to argue that it needed to be investigated. Rohatgi said, “There is no evidence. There may be some lady in London or somewhere and there are chats and the NCB is trying to link these to this case, without evidence.”

He referred to a chart to show recoveries and arrest and said at best Khan can be connected to Merchant and another accused (Aachit Kumar). “But Aachit was not on the cruise. He was arrested on October 6, from his house.”

When Justice Sambre asked about the chart, senior counsel Amit Desai appearing as lead counsel for Merchant along with advocate Taraq Sayed, said Kumar was “also a young, 22-year-old, from friend circle. Alleged chats were about online poker” adding “as you know online gaming has risen.”

Rohatgi cited a series of judgments for bail and said Khan’s case was better than all these. Arguments will continue on Wednesday.