Aryan Khan, son of actor Shah Rukh Khan and producer Gauri Khan, will continue to stay in jail after a Mumbai Session’s Court on Thursday reserved the order for his bail application for October 20 in in the case related to the seizure of drugs on board a cruise ship, Live Law reported.
Khan was taken into custody on October 3 by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). On October 8, his bail plea was rejected. The NCB, on Wednesday opposed his bail plea once again saying that the probe so far has revealed his alleged role in the illicit procurement and consumption of drugs.
The NCB had also alleged that Aryan Khan was “in touch with some persons abroad who appear to be a part of an International Drug Network for illicit procurement of drugs.”
On allegations of Khan’s involvement in international drug trafficking, senior advocate Amit Desai, appearing for Khan on Thursday argued, “But by no stretch of imagination is this boy involved in illicit intentional drug trafficking.”
While the Additional Solicitor General appearing for the NCB cited several other cases claiming to be similar to Khan’s case including actor Rhea Chakraborty’s brother Showik Chakraborty, actor Armaan Kohli, and several others, Desai argued how Khan should not be punished as he is a person “affected by the drug menace”.
“You are a person at the bottom of the chain, you’re a person affected by the drug menace as per the Govt.’s own policy, but instead of reforming you, I will pick you up and put you in prison,” Desai said.
The Additional Solicitor General demanded bail rejection again citing “he will tamper with evidence.” and that Khan is “not a first-time consumer.” “The evidence placed on record shows he is a regular consumer of contraband since the last few years,” he said
Desai repeatedly argued that the bail can be granted without the investigation being affected.
Desai also demanded that Khan’s liberty should not be taken away based on WhatsApp chats as they can “often be misunderstood” and that this generation communicates in a very different way and that WhatsApp chats are “meant to be private.”
“Today’s generation have a means of communication, which is English..not the Queen’s English.. it’s sometimes what the older generation will call a torture. The way they communicate is very different,” Desai said.
Regarding the WhatsApp chats, Desai also questioned the mention of seizure of the mobile phone in the panchnama (submitted police documents) while a statement by the accused says the mobile phone was given voluntarily.
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Khan is currently lodged in Arthur Road jail. Thursday’s hearing was crucial as the Bombay High Court and the district judiciary will not be functioning between October 15 and 19, reported LiveLaw. So far, 17 arrests have been made in the case.
Meanwhile, at the beginning of the hearing on Thursday, a social worker, as he claimed himself to be, approached the court to intervene in the case saying “drug menace needs to be seriously dealt with” and that Khan “was getting ‘special treatment’ with expeditious hearing of bail application” which the court rejected.