The bail plea of Aryan Khan, son of actor Shah Rukh Khan and producer Gauri Khan, was rejected by the Special NDPS court in Mumbai on Wednesday, Live Law reported. The bail applications of other two accused, Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha, were also rejected.
The 23-year-old has now approached the Bombay High Court for bail, PTI reported.
Khan was arrested on October 3 by the 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, and Khan was taken into NCB custody, along with a few others, including his friend Merchant and fashion designer Dhamecha.
They are booked under sections 8(c) read with 20b (purchase), 27 (consumption), 28 (attempt to commit offence), 29 (abetment/ conspiracy) and 35 (presumption of culpable mental state) of the NDPS Act.
According to ANI, NCB had found drug-related WhatsApp chats allegedly between Khan and a debut female actor, which was submitted to the court ahead of his bail plea hearing.
Previously, the court had reserved his bail order on October 14 after hearing arguments from the Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh for the Narcotics Control Bureau and Senior Advocate Amit Desai for Khan.
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In the hearing, ASG Singh had argued that in one of Khan’s chats there was an alleged discussion about “bulk quantities of hard drugs” which pointed towards “illicit drug trafficking.” Calling the argument “inherently absurd,” Desai had said that the “very serious and frightening” term of ‘illicit drug trafficking’ was being dumped on his client without any evidence.
Khan’s bail was earlier also rejected by a Mumbai court on October 8. During the hearing, the NCB had argued that there was evidence against Khan in the form of “incriminating” WhatsApp chats that indicated consumption of drugs as well as the purchase of larger quantities.
Khan, along with Merchant, is currently kept at the Arthur Road jail.