Mumbai (Maharashtra): A court here on Sunday remanded Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, and two others to NCB custody till October 4 in connection with the seizure of banned drugs onboard a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast. Aryan Khan and the two others Munmun Dhamecha and Arbaaz Merchant were arrested this evening and were produced before a special holiday court of additional metropolitan magistrate R K Rajebhosale.
Advait Sethna, the advocate for the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), sought custody of the accused for two days on the ground that the investigation is at a nascent stage and more raids were being carried out to apprehend the supplier of drugs.
Aryan Khan's advocate Satish Maneshinde argued that his client was invited to the event being held on the cruise by the organisers. “No incriminating material has been recovered from him (Aryan). There is no possession or evidence of consumption,” he said. Maneshinde said he would file an application seeking bail for Aryan Khan on Monday. "Although the sections under which he (Aryan) has been booked are all bailable offences. I am willing to settle for a one-day NCB custody so that we can file for bail before the regular court," he said.
Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan was arrested on Sunday after a prolonged interrogation. Aryan and seven others were nabbed in a raid during a party on a cruise ship by the Narcotics Control Bureau on Saturday. The eight people picked up by NCB were Munmun Dhamecha, Nupur Sarika, Ismeet Singh, Mohak Jaswal, Vikrant Chhoker, Gomit Chopra, Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant.
Earlier, Aryan Khan, Arbaz Seth Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha were taken for a medical examination. Following the medical examination, Aryan Khan, Arbaz Seth Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha have been arrested by NCB for the possession of drugs. All three confessed to carrying drugs with them on the cruise, NCB sources said.
An NCB official said that Aryan is among several others who were detained from the alleged party that they attended aboard the luxury ship on a Mumbai-Goa cruise. In a first-of-its-kind operation on a cruise ship, the NCB swooped on the rave party being held on the cruise ship off the Mumbai coast.
The operation followed a tip-off on the proposed rave party that was planned aboard a cruise ship bound on a Mumbai-Goa voyage, setting sail from the International Cruise Terminal, Mumbai.
The advertising for the party was reportedly done via social media with the ticket rates at Rs 75,000 per person. To avoid detection, the NCB sleuths booked themselves on that cruise as ordinary passengers and they soon found some of their co-passengers consuming drugs. Then the NCB launched its full-scale raid, and detained eight passengers, including two women and seized different types of narcotic substances in varying quantities.
Different drugs like MDMA, ecstasy, cocaine, MD (mephedrone) and charas were recovered from them during the raid conducted on Saturday evening. During the operation, the suspects were searched by the sleuths and different drugs were recovered from them. The drugs were hidden in their clothes, undergarments and purses (by women).
Meanwhile, the cruise company distanced itself from the incident. In a statement issued on Sunday, Jurgen Bailom, CEO of Waterways Leisure Tourism Pvt Ltd stated that Cordelia Cruises is in no way, directly or indirectly, connected to this incident. Cordelia Cruises had chartered its ship for a private event to a Delhi-based event management company, he had mentioned. The cruise company is extending all its support and cooperation to the authorities, the statement further observed.
The Congress party on Sunday, however, alleged that the raid conducted by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on a cruise ship in Mumbai and subsequent action against some persons was an attempt to deflect attention from the "real issue" of the drugs seizure at Mundra port in Gujarat.
Last month, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) had seized 2,988.21 kg of heroin, likely worth Rs 21,000 crore in the global market, from two containers at the Adani-operated Mundra port in Gujarat's Kutch district. Congress sought an SC-monitored investigation into the drug seizure at Mundra port.
Read: NCB raid on Mumbai cruise ship meant to divert attention from Mundra port drugs haul: Cong
