Bombay High Court on Thursday granted bail to Aryan Khan, son of actor Shah Rukh Khan, nearly twenty five days after his arrest in Mumbai cruise drugs case. A single bench of Justice N W Sambre also granted bail to co-accused Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha.
They had been denied bail twice by lower courts.
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had told the court that the 23-year-old was not just a consumer of drugs, but also involved in illicit drug trafficking.
The agency also claimed that Aryan Khan and Pooja Dadlani, Shah Rukh Khan's manager, were tampering with the evidence and witnesses in the case in an attempt to derail the investigation.
Aryan Khan's lawyers Mukul Rohatgi and Satish Maneshinde argued that the NCB has no evidence against Aryan Khan, and he was wrongly arrested and has been kept in jail for over 20 days.
Rohatgi told the court that his client was not a customer and had been invited on the cruise as a special guest.
Aryan Khan, Merchant and Dhamecha were arrested by the NCB on October 3 and booked under relevant sections of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) for possession, consumption, sale/purchase of banned drugs, conspiracy and abetment.
The case triggered a slew of controversies related to the NCB and its officials, especially its zonal director in Mumbai Sameer Wankhede, who faced charges of extortion attempt to let off Aryan Khan. The central agency and Wankhede, who led the raid on the cruise vessel, have refuted all allegations levelled against them.
Here's the case timeline :
October 2, 2021 - Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha detained by NCB.
October 3 - NCB arrests Aryan Khan, Merchant and Dhamecha and produces them before a magistrate's court for remand. Magistrate remands the trio to NCB custody till October 4, 2021.
October 4 - Aryan Khan, Merchant and Dhamecha produced before magistrate and remanded to NCB custody till October 7. Five others arrested also remanded to NCB custody.
October 5 - NCB produces four more accused for remand in the case. All remanded to NCB custody till October 11, 2021.
October 6 - NCB arrests four persons who were allegedly part of the organising team for the event/party on the cruise. All remanded to NCB custody till October 14, 2021.
October 7 - Aryan Khan, Merchant and Dhamecha produced for remand. NCB's plea seeking extension of custody rejected and the trio remanded to judicial custody along with five other accused. Khan moves applications for bail. Magistrate grants time to NCB to respond on the maintainability of the bail plea and adjourns case till October 8.
October 8 - Aryan Khan sent to Arthur Road prison in Mumbai along with Merchant. Magistrate's court takes up the three bail applications for hearing. After a marathon hearing of around five hours, the bail pleas are rejected on account of non-maintainability. Aryan Khan, Merchant and Dhamecha file bail pleas in special NDPS court.
October 11 - Aryan Khan's bail application mentioned before NDPS court. NCB seeks time to file reply; plea posted for hearing on October 13, 2021.
October 13 - Special Judge V V Patil commences hearing Khan's bail application. October 20 - Special NDPS court rejects bail pleas of Aryan Khan, Merchant and Dhamecha. Aryan Khan and Dhamecha approach Bombay High Court seeking bail.
October 21 - Aryan Khan's bail plea mentioned before Justice N W Sambre seeking urgent hearing. Matter posted for hearing on October 26, 2021.
October 26 - Bombay High Court commences hearing on bail pleas. Merchant also files bail plea.
October 27 - Aryan Khan, Merchant and Dhamecha's advocates complete their arguments.
October 28 - Bombay High Court grants bail to Aryan Khan, Merchant and Dhamecha.
(With inputs from PTI)
(Edited by : Aditi Gautam)
First Published: Oct 28, 2021 4:53 PM IST
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