Aryan Khan, son of Hindi actor Shah Rukh Khan, will apply for bail on Monday after the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) said on Sunday that it will not seek further custody of him in the Cordelia cruise drugs case, India Today reported.
Khan was arrested on Sunday afternoon for alleged possession and consumption of illegal drugs. The NCB registered a case under several sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, after officers 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 at International Cruise Terminal, Green Gate Mumbai.
Along with Khan, two others – his friend Arbaaz Merchant and fashion designer Munmun Dhamecha – were also arrested in connection to the drug bust. “All three accused will be produced again before the court tomorrow (Monday) for their judicial custody. Remaining five accused, namely Nupur Satija, Ishmeet Singh Chadha, Mohak Jaiswal, Gomit Chopra and Vikrant Chhokar, were arrested later today (Sunday),” said the NCB in a statement.
As per a report in Hindustan Times, Khan’s lawyer Satish Maneshinde said in the court that Khan was invited to the cruise party. “However, he did not have a boarding pass. He didn’t have any seats or cabins there. Secondly, according to the seizure, nothing has been found in his possession. He is arrested only based on chats,” Maneshinde added.
However, in an application filed in court, seeking remand of the three accused, the NCB had said, “Prima facie investigation has revealed that there is incriminating material in the form of WhatsApp chats clearly showing the nexus of the accused with suppliers and peddlers on a regular basis.”
According to ANI, post the arrest of Khan and two others, a drug supplier was taken into custody in the same case following a series of raids in Bandra, Andheri, and Lokhandwala, in the intervening hours of late Sunday night and early Monday.
The raid on Saturday happened during a major event on the Cordelia Cruises’ Empress ship, which was inaugurated just two weeks ago. Post the arrests, the cruise company said in a statement on Sunday that it had nothing to do with the incident.
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“Cordelia Cruises is in no way, directly or indirectly, connected to this incident. Cordelia Cruises had chartered its ship for a private event to a Delhi-based event management company,” said Jurgen Bailom, Chief Executive Officer and President, Waterways Leisure Tourism Pvt Ltd, in the statement.
“We, at Cordelia Cruises, condemn all acts such as these and will strictly refrain from letting our ship out for similar events in the future. Nonetheless, Cordelia Cruises is extending our full support and cooperating with the authorities,” the statement added.
The NCB has been actively investigating and arresting several celebrities in the anti-drugs case which was launched last year following the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.