Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has ruled that there was "no prima facie evidence" against Aryan Khan and co-accused Munmun Dhamecha and Arbaaz Merchant for charges pertaining to 'conspiracy' and 'common intent' in the case lodged against them after the cruise ship raids.
Delivering the detailed 14-page order, Justice Nitin Sambre said that considering the material brought on record by the NCB, the court has found that prima facie, there was no positive evidence against the accused trio.
It may be recalled that Khan, Dhamecha and Merchant were granted conditional bail by the high court on October 28, vide a speaking order, and the detailed order was made available only today.
Justice Sambre further said that the NCB claim on the common intention to commit an offence under the NDPS Act, (accused) found to be in possession of commercial quantity of drugs and hatching conspiracy is "liable to be rejected".
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The court said that merely because the accused trio was travelling on the cruise cannot be grounds to invoke the offence under Section 29 (criminal conspiracy) against them.
"This court is required to be sensitive to the fact that there has to be presence of basic material in the form of evidence so as to substantiate the case of conspiracy against the applicants (accused)," Justice Sambre noted.