Mumbai: Arguing for actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan’s bail plea in the drug seizure case, previous attorney general Mukul Rohatgi told Bombay High Court on Tuesday that Khan was not in “conscious possession” of the contraband allegedly seized from a friend’s shoe.

Questioning the finding by the judge of a special court handling drug cases that Khan was in “conscious possession” of contraband found with a friend, Rohatgi said the surmise was “tenuous and farfetched”. “Possession of somebody else cannot be my possession unless there is control and knowledge.” Rohatgi underlined his point about complicity by citing a Supreme Court judgment on a minister who was booked for harbouring a terrorist after a servant brought him into the house. “The SC said that cannot be the case,” he said.

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) claimed to have recovered 6gm of charas from Khan’s friend Arbaaz Merchant’s shoes a short while after they boarded a cruise liner headed for Goa on October 2. “Since there was no recovery, no consumption, no medical examination to show consumption… not even a party. I submit that Aryan Khan was wrongly arrested.”

The HC is hearing the bail applications of Khan, 23, Merchant, 26 and Munmun Dhamecha, 28, a fashion model, after the sessions court denied them bail. In all, eight persons were arrested before the cruise began. The NCB has alleged a conspiracy connecting all eight. The HC will continue hearing the bail plea Wednesday afternoon. Referring to an affidavit by a witness, Prabhakar Sail, which is being relied on by the NCB to cite vendetta against its officers, Rohatgi said the “unsavoury controversy between political personalities and the NCB cannot rub off on me (Khan)”.

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Post-lunch session, Justice Nitin Sambre’s court room saw a sudden surge in crowd as Aryan Khan’s bail hearing approached. It prompted Justice Sambre to break proceedings for a while after asking his associate to ensure that Covid SOPs are followed. The court officer finally commanded everyone, including the media, to leave. The judge assured media’s re-entry later. The lawyers representing Khan and the NCB had to wade through thick crowds to step inside the courtroom

Officers escort Aryan Khan out of Killa court on Thursday. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

The Killa court on Thursday refused the Narcotics Control Bureau’s (NCB) request for further custody of Aryan Khan and other accused in the cruise liner drug-bust case, and sent them to judicial remand. Enough time was given for interrogation, it stated, adding that sending them to further remand of the NCB will violate their fundamental rights. The NCB had sought the custody of all the eight accused, held from the cruise on Sunday, till October 11.

Ideally, the accused should be taken to the prison when in judicial custody. However, Aryan's lawyer Satish Maneshinde urged the court to allow them to stay in the NCB's custody. He also requested for their judicial remand under NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede.

Wankhede also requested to keep them in the NCB's custody, stating that the prison department would not admit the accused without Covid-19 test reports. The court allowed the appeals.

Seeking their remand, the NCB, through Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, told the court it has arrested another accused, Aachit Kumar. “He is a supplier to Arbaaz Merchant and Aryan Khan. His name was revealed by Aryan, and hence we need further custody for their confrontation.”

In its remand application, the anti-drug police stated that a confrontation of all accused with party organisers has become imperative for the probe. “New factual details have surfaced over the past two days and we need some more time,” read its application.

Defending his client, Maneshinde told the court that Aryan was a guest at the cruise party and was invited by a friend, Pratik Gaba. He said that he has chats where there is no discussion about a rave party. 

Aryan was probably invited to add more glamour to the party, said Maneshinde, and claimed that Gaba invited Merchant since he is friends with Aryan. Both friends went to the cruise party together, but Aryan has nothing to do with the drugs found on Merchant. “We cannot be made hostage, so that they arrest others involved in the case,” he told the court. Advocate Taraq Sayed, Merchant’s counsel, said the NCB can't be given custody just for confrontation. “Confrontation can be done anytime. How long does it take?”

Advocate Ali Kashif Khan Deshmukh, who appeared for model Munmun Dhamecha, said she doesn't know Aryan and Merchant, and that the NCB seized drugs from the room, not from her possession. 

“There is absolutely nothing about Munmun, so why are they seeking her custody?” Khan asked in the court. “If this is the case, then around 1,300 people partying on the cruise should have been arrested.” 

The court then observed, “Claiming custody is their [NCB] right, but simply remanding the accused in custody would violate their fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution. Enough time was given to NCB for the interrogation.”

Maneshinde and others then filed an interim bail application, which the NCB opposed, stating that it is not maintainable as it is going to file a stay. Initially, the court agreed to hear the interim bail plea on Thursday itself, but later adjourned the matter to till Friday [today]. The NCB also said it has arrested a Nigerian national, a foreign link in the case, and he will be produced in court on Friday.

Mumbai: Observing that police custody cannot be granted on “vague grounds”, the Esplanade court on Thursday rejected a plea by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) for continuing its custody of Aryan Khan (23), son of filmstar Shah Rukh Khan, his friend Arbaaz Merchant (26), and six others. The court remanded them in judicial custody on Thursday. The order is significant as it means that the bail applications filed by the two and the others can and will be heard.

The court said since jail authorities would not accept an accused after 7 pm without Covid reports, their judicial custody be under custody of NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede. The court further said it would hear bail pleas on Friday after additional solicitor general Anil Singh, appearing for NCB, said he would argue against their maintainability and file a proper written reply. Khan’s counsel Satish Maneshinde made a bid for interim bail too.

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After a lengthy hearing in the drugs seizure case, additional chief metropolitan magistrate R M Nerlikar said in his order at around 7 pm, “No doubt it is the duty of NCB to investigate, but simply remanding accused to police custody would be violating fundamental right of accused under the Constitution.” The court committed the matter to sessions court.

NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede had led a team of NCB officers for a raid last Saturday at the International Terminal at Mumbai Port Trust, from where a cruise liner was to depart for Goa. The team intercepted Khan and others, found no drugs on Khan, but claim to have found 6 grams of charas on Merchant and 5 grams on co-accused Munmun Dhamecha’s cabin floor, along with several other recoveries from others. Merchant’s counsel Taraq Sayed said neither his client nor Khan had any connections with the other accused.

The NCB sought further custody of Khan and the others, saying the case was one of “criminal conspiracy” and Aachit Kumar, a fresh accused, was arrested on Wednesday based on Khan’s statement. Also, a foreign national had been “intercepted” and the 8 accused needed to be confronted with Kumar as the aim is to probe further to crack down on supply chain and end the gang, NCB said.

Kumar, 22, was picked up on October 5 and “illegally detained” by the NCB officers “over-zealously” before they showed his arrest on Wednesday, said his counsel Ashwin Thool. The NCB counsel, Advait Sethna, seeking his remand, said it had recovered 2.6 grams of ganja from Kumar’s house and “he is considered to be the supplier to Khan and is part of the ganja trafficking network.” So a confrontation is needed to “identify all associates,” he said, stressing the court must take judicial note of “what is happening.” The court order for Kumar said NCB has made out a case for his custody for investigation and granted police custody till October 9.

Maneshinde said Khan had no complaints against NCB during his custody but argued that NCB had had enough time to confront the accused since October 5. Since the last remand, no interrogation of Khan was done, neither was anything recovered, he said. The NCB cannot rely on confrontation alone now for further custody, he said.

Advocate Ayaz Khan for two co-accused, Nupur Satija and Ishmit Singh, added there was no recovery of ganja from the eight accused, so how could Kumar be the “supplier”? Hence, why should all accused be confronted with Kumar, said Ayaz Khan, and the court agreed.

Besides, he said, most accused were found with ‘small quantities’, with punishment ranging for a day’s imprisonment to a year or just a fine.

Ayaz Khan also said the ship had a few thousand rooms and was like a floating hotel. There may be a sundown party but in their own rooms, nothing collective, he said. He and Sayed stressed the court has to see each case individually and the NCB remand was “misleading the court” as it sought to show seizure of cocaine and other drugs collectively.

Advocate Ali Kaashif Khan for Dhamecha, as well as Lakshmi Raman for Mohak Jaiswal, advocate Kushal Mor for Gomit Chopra and Ashish Raghuvanshi for Vikrant Chhokar argued they too have no connection with the other accused, and with NCB already having had their presence for so long, there was no case for further custody.

The court said it cannot discuss at this stage what took the probe team so long to arrest the accused with whom they need to be confronted. The court said that as pointed out by defence lawyers and SC rulings, each day of police custody has to be explained, but it is not reflected in the remand plea.