Armaan Kohli, the Hindi actor who was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau on August 28, was denied bail by a Special NDPS court on Thursday, PTI reported.
Kohli was arrested by the NCB after they seized cocaine from his Mumbai residence on August 28. He had provided ambiguous answers during the questioning and was taken into custody at the NCB office.
The 49-year-old actor was booked under sections 21(a), 27(a), 28, 29, 30, & 35 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Act.
The actor was later sent to judicial custody for 14 days on September 2 as no further remand was sought by the drug law enforcement agency.
On Thursday, his lawyer argued that only a small quantity of drugs was allegedly recovered from his possession, which is a relatively lesser offence, and so the actor was entitled to bail.
However, NCB opposed the application, claiming that Kohli had direct links to two of the prime accused in the case from whom a large “commercial” quantity of contraband was recovered. The court ruled in favour of the agency and rejected Kohli’s bail application.
The actor was earlier also denied bail by a magistrate court on September 4.
The NCB has so far arrested six persons in this case, including Kohli. Along with Kohli, drug peddler Ajay Raju Singh was also arrested for illegal possession of drugs. Later, the agency detained four more persons, including two Nigerian nationals accused of drug peddling.
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NCB’s drug probe in Bollywood started after actor Sushant Singh Rajput died by suicide on June 14, 2020. The agency has either summoned or sent notices to several actors and celebrities, including Deepika Padukone, Karan Johar, Rhea Chakraborty, Arjun Rampal, Rakul Preet Singh, and Sara Ali Khan.
Kohli, who has appeared in the film Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo, was also a contestant in the seventh season of the reality TV show Bigg Boss in 2013. During his time on the show, he was arrested for physically abusing his co-contestant Sofia Hayat.