Mumbai: Bail denied, Aryan Khan, 2 others moved to Arthur Road jail

Aryan Khan at NCB office at Fort on Friday. Pic/Sameer Markande

The additional chief metropolitan magistrate on Friday rejected the bail plea of Aryan Khan, Munmun Dhamecha and Arbaaz Merchant, saying that the applications were "not maintainable". The trio were arrested following a raid on a cruise liner on Sunday.

Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, appearing for the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), opposed the bail pleas, stating that the matter should be heard by a
special NDPS court, and not a magistrate court. Responding, Aryan's lawyer Satish Maneshinde said there are various offences that can be tried at special court, but one can approach the magistrate court.

On Thursday, Maneshinde had said that nothing was found on Aryan and the NCB sought his custody on the basis of WhatsApp chats which were about football. In court on Friday, the ASG said those chats were about procuring drugs in "bulk, not footballs".

"We have been saying from Day 1 that there are several chats which are shocking in nature and various code words have been used. At this stage, we cannot reveal any of it. We are examining why he wanted drugs in bulk," an NCB officer told mid-day. The officer added that the NCB suspect football is a code word for drugs.

‘May tamper with evidence'

The NCB also argued that Aryan is an influential person, and if granted bail, he may tamper with the evidence. To which, Maneshinde responded that just because he belongs to an affluent family, it doesn't mean he will tamper with the evidence.

Advocate Ali Kaashif Khan Deshmukh that the NCB has not been able to show the connection between his client, Munmun, and Aryan and Arbaaz.

"Two more people, Somaiya and Baldev, were there on the floor where drugs were seized. Why were they not arrested?" asked Khan.

Advocate Taraq Sayed for Arbaaz Merchant said that he has no connection with the "co-accused. Allegedly I was found with 6 grams of charas. The prosecution is not providing the CCTV camera footage [of the seizure], saying that it will prejudice the ongoing probe."

Trio in quarantine

The court sent all three accused to judicial custody. They have been shifted to Arthur Road jail where they are in quarantine. "There is a strict rule of the high court not to allow any accused without a negative a COVID-19 RT-PCR test. Today, they were brought in with negative test reports, and as per the protocols, they have been kept in a quarantine centre inside the prison for a week, " said Nitin Vaichan, superintendent, Arthur Road jail.

Meanwhile, the trio's lawyers said they will file their bail pleas before the special NDPS court on Saturday.