After three days of marathon hearings, the Bombay High Court on Thursday granted bail to Aryan Khan in the Mumbai cruise drugs seizure case. The Bombay High Court also granted bail to Arbaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha in the case. At present, Aryan is lodged at the Arthur Road Jail along with another accused, Arbaaz Merchant, while Munmun Dhamecha is at Byculla women’s prison.
Allowing all the three pleas, a single bench of Justice N.W. Sambre said, “All three pleas are allowed. I will pass detailed orders by tomorrow evening”. This means their release is possible only after the Bombay High Court orders on Friday. Aryan Khan got bail after spending more than 20 days in jail. Aryan Khan was arrested on 3 October. An NCB team busted an alleged drugs party on the Cordelia Cruise ship, which was on its way to Goa at mid-sea on 2 October. A total of 20 people, including two Nigerian nationals, have been arrested so far in the case.
Former Attorney General of India, Mukul Rohatgi said that Aryan Khan, Arbaz Merchant, and Munmun Dhamecha, who were granted bail, would be released from jail after the Bombay High Court issues detailed order in the matter on Friday. Rohatgi, who represented Aryan Khan, told media, “Bombay HC has granted bail to Aryan Khan, Arbaz Merchant, Munmun Dhamecha after hearing the arguments for three days. The detailed order will be given tomorrow. Hopefully, they will come out of the jail by tomorrow or Saturday.” Rohatgi expressed happiness over the order and said, “For me, it is a regular case—to win some, to lose some. I am happy that he (Khan) has got bail.”
The former AG said during the hearing that there was “no case of possession of drugs” against Aryan Khan; he was arrested wrongly and “it was a fit case for bail”. Rohatgi said, “There is absolutely no material for purpose of conspiracy. There were 1,300 people on the cruise. I did not know anybody else except Arbaaz and Aachit. Their (NCB’s) case is—it is not coincidence and therefore it is conspiracy. Conspiracy is meeting of the minds. It cannot be based on coincidence. You (NCB) failed to prove meeting of minds with these eight people and therefore called them independently. Two of them have got bail, though my case is not on parity.”
ASG Anil Singh said in the court, “My contention is he (Aryan) was found in possession. He was connected with drug peddlers. It was commercial quantity. Conspiracy is difficult to prove. Only the conspirators know how they conspired. That is how I’ve shown WhatsApp chats. I leave it to the consciousness of the court to decide based on material on record. There is a conspiracy charge against Arbaaz as well. In the matter of Munmun Dhamecha, impression was given that she was not connected. She had carried the drug and admitted that in voluntary statement. We have got the CDR report that she had connection with Ishmit Chopda with whom drug was found. Statement of the persons in her room show that she had carried the drug.”
Meanwhile, after the Bombay High Court on Thursday granted bail to Aryan Khan, Shah Rukh Khan’s manager Pooja Dadlani expressed her gratitude for all the “love and prayers”. Taking to her Instagram Story, Pooja wrote, “There is a God…thank you everyone for your love and prayers. Truth prevails.”
Actor Sonu Sood took to his Twitter and wrote, “When time judges, then there is no need for witnesses.” Filmmaker Hansal Mehta wrote, “I want to have a blast tonight!” Singer Mika Singh posted an all smiles picture with SRK and wrote, “Congratulations to #AryanKhan and to the other accused for getting bail. I’m so happy that it was finally granted, bro @iamsrk Bhagwan ke ghar mein der hai andher nahi. You have contributed hugely to the fraternity. God bless both you and your family.”
Actor R. Madhavan tweeted, “Thank god. As a father I am So relieved.. … May all good and positive things happen.” Bollywood diva Malaika Arora took to her Instagram handle and wrote, “Thank the lord,” and added a folded hands emoticon to it. In another story, she shared an adorable picture of SRK’s family featuring him with his wife Gauri, daughter Suhana, sons Aryan and AbRam Khan.
In a related development, Narcotics Control Bureau’s (NCB’s) witness in the drugs on cruise case, Kiran Gosavi, has been sent to police custody till 5 November in a cheating case. Earlier in the day, Gosavi, a key witness in the Mumbai cruise drugs case in which Aryan Khan had been arrested, was held by Pune City Police in connection with a cheating case of Rs 18 lakh in the year 2018. He had duped one Chinmay Deshmukh, promising to give job in Malaysia and collected Rs 18 lakh. Deshmukh was sent on a tourist visa to Malaysia and according to the complainant (Deshmukh), Gosavi had assured him that the tourist visa would be converted once he lands in Malaysia. But he had to return to India before the expiry of the tourist visa. Deshmukh had filed a complaint against Gosavi in 2018 and a chargesheet was filed in the case. Since then, he was on the run.
Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court on Thursday disposed of the petition of NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the money extortion allegations levelled against him in connection with the drugs on cruise case. Earlier today, Wankhede moved the Bombay High Court over the enquiry against him by the Maharashtra government and demanded a probe by CBI or any central agency in the matter. In response to this, the lawyer representing the state government told the court that there are four different complaints against Wankhede. “An ACP level officer is heading the enquiry which has just begun. We have not registered an FIR against Wankhede yet so the application is at a premature stage,” the lawyer stated.
“As the petition is in respect to the Prevention of Corruption Act, we will give prior notice of 72 hours if we register an offence under the act,” added the lawyer. Following this, the court disposed of Wankhede’s petition after the state government’s lawyer assured that a notice of three days will be served prior to the arrest.
Earlier, Prabhakar Sail, a witness in the Mumbai cruise raid case had alleged that the NCB Zonal Director and some other NCB officials had sought Rs 25 crore from Shah Rukh Khan in order to release Aryan Khan who is an accused in the drugs bust case. Meanwhile, the NCB team from Delhi will also question Wankhede to investigate allegations levelled against him.
On Wednesday, the probe agency’s Deputy Director General (Northern Region) Gyaneshwar Singh said that Wankhede will remain the investigating officer in the drugs-on-cruise case until substantial information is found against him.
