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Bail plea of Aryan Khan rejected by NDPS court in the cruise drugs case

MUMBAI: The bail plea moved by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan, and two of his friends in connection in the case of seizure of drugs onboard a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast on October 3, was rejected by a special NDPS court today. 

Citing the reasons for rejection of bail, the NDPS special judge V V Patil who is designated for cases related to the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, noted that although Khan was not caught with any drugs on him, however since his friend Arbaaz Merchant who was along with him and was caught with the contraband during the raid and since Khan had the knowledge of it, it amounted to 'conscious possession' of both the accused.

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) which had conducted the raid had alleged that six grams of charas was seized from Merchant hidden in his shoes and opposing the bail they submitted that WhatsApp chats of Khan prima facie revealed that he was 'dealing in illicit drug activities regularly' and was likely to commit a similar offence if released on bail.

The NCB in the previous hearings have said that going by the WhatsApp chats it appeared that Khan the accused no 1 and Merchant accused no 2 along with others had connections with international drug cartel and they were investigating the matter from all such angles.

In today's hearing, the NCB said that since Aryan and his friends were from influential families there was a chance of tampering with evidence if let out on bail and the judge seems to have considered the same noting that it appeared that all accused were connected in the same thread which indicated that they were part of a larger network of drug dealers.

Khan and Merchant are lodged in the Arthur Road jail while and another of their friends model Munmun Dhamecha is lodged at the Byculla Jails' women's cell after they were sent to judicial custody. 

The lawyers representing Khan and Merchant have said that they would be immediately moving the Bombay High Court for the bail and were awaiting the copy of the order of the NDPS court.

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