The bail hearing of Aryan Khan, son of actor Shah Rukh Khan and producer Gauri Khan, who was arrested in the cruise ship drug bust case, was adjourned to Thursday by the Bombay High Court, Live Law reported.
23-year-old Khan was arrested on October 3 by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) during a cruise ship drug raid based on a tip-off. The agency allegedly seized 13 gm of cocaine, 21 gm of charas or hashish, 22 pills of MDMA (ecstasy), 5 gm mephedrone, and cash worth Rs 1.33 lakh. Khan was taken into NCB custody, along with a few others, including his friend Arbaaz Merchant and Dhamecha.
On Wednesday, Justice NW Sambre heard former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi for Khan and Senior Advocate Amit Desai for Merchant. Rohatgi argued that the Courts were misled by the NCB to believe that large quantities of contraband were recovered from the accused. He further submitted that the anti-drugs agency had proceeded in sheer violation of Article 22 of the Constitution. He also said that the arrest memo of the accused (Khan) did not give true and correct grounds for arrest.
“Article 22 of the Constitution is more important than Section 50 of CrPC. It states that no person should be held without being informed about the grounds of arrest and the person shall have the right to consult a lawyer of his choice,” Rohatgi said.
Rohatgi had earlier argued for Khan on Tuesday as well during which he said that Khan is a “young man” who should be sent to rehab rather than jail.
Desai too, in his arguments on Wednesday, claimed that the first remand application did not talk about conspiracy and the Court, at the time of the first remand, was misled into believing that the accused were also charged under section 28 and 29 of the NDPS Act.
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Advocate Ali Kashif Khan appearing for Dhamecha stated before the Court that she was invited on the cruise and she was in the room along with one Somiya and Baldev when the NCB came for the alleged search. Nothing was found in her possession during the personal search, Khan argued.
On Thursday, the Court will hear the rest of the arguments of Khan and also ASG Anil Singh, who is appearing for NCB.
Meanwhile, a Special NDPS court on Tuesday granted bail to Manish Rajgaria and Avin Sahu, who were guests on the cruise . They are the first accused to be granted bail in the case, Live Law reported.