A court in Mumbai on Friday rejected the bail applications of Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan, his friend Arbaaz Merchant and model Munmun Dhamecha in a drugs case, reported Live Law.
Khan and seven others were detained on October 3 after the Narcotics Control Bureau raided a party on a cruise ship off the coast of Mumbai and seized drugs on board. No drugs were found in possession of the actor’s son.
Khan was initially remanded to the custody of the anti-drugs agency but was sent to judicial custody for 14 days on Thursday.
At Friday’s hearing, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate RM Nerlikar accepted the Narcotics Control Bureau’s argument that only a special sessions court has jurisdiction to hear the bail pleas, reported Bar and Bench.
The agency’s counsel, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, submitted that the court would first have to decide on the maintainability of the case before hearing the plea.
Nerlikar noted that the bail applications were not maintainable and therefore rejected them, according to Live Law.
During the hearing, Khan’s lawyer Satish Maneshinde again reiterated that no drugs were seized from the actor’s son.
“The High Court has granted bail for small quantity, I [Aryan Khan] have been found with nothing,” the lawyer said, according to Bar and Bench. “Not even one gram, nothing.”
Maneshinde also brought up the Narcotics Control Bureau’s allegation of a conspiracy in the case, saying that there was nothing to prove the same.
“I am a 23 year old with no prior antecedents,” Khan’s lawyer said. “I have roots in the society, cannot abscond. There is no question of tampering of evidence or accused. The electronic evidence is taken, the other accused are in custody.”
Five others have been accused in the case. They are Vikrant Chhoker, Ismeet Singh, Nupur Sarika, Gomit Chopra and Mohak Jaswal. These accused person were also sent to 14-day judicial custody on Thursday along with Khan.
The anti-drugs agency had also admitted in court on October 4 that it did not recover any illegal drugs from Khan, according to India Today. In his bail plea, Khan had argued that he was arrested only on the basis of some WhatsApp messages.
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