Drugs-on-cruise case: No bail for Aryan Khan, plea will now be taken up on Wednesday

A Mumbai sessions court will now hear the bail plea of Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, on Wednesday (October 13) after the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) sought more time to file its reply in court. The 23-year-old is currently lodged in the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai after the court denied his bail plea on Friday, calling it 'not maintainable'.

The case was heard in the court presided by the Special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Judge VV Patil. The NCB requested at least a week's time to file its reply against the bail plea by Khan and other accused in the drugs-on-cruise case, though the 23-year-old's team of lawyers argued that the anti-drug agency had more than enough time to file the submission.

"They had 2 days since Friday because the application was served (then). The NCB was working and making arrests as can be seen from the press reports," argued Senior Advocate Amit Desai, associate of lawyer Satish Maneshinde who is representing Aryan in the matter.


To which, Special Public Prosecutor AM Chimalker, speaking for the NCB , replied that the probe in drugs case is still ongoing and more evidence in the matter is being gathered. "Normally, NCB takes a week to file reply. The facts that they have been saying are not correct facts. The picture is not as rosy as it seems," he submitted.

Hearing both the sides, the court agreed to take up the matter of Wednesday.

Aryan, along with Arbaaz Merchant, Munmun Dhamecha and five others accused in the alleged drugs case was sent to 14-day judicial custody in the matter and spent the weekend in quarantine cells of the two prisons in Arthur Road jail.

Aryan's lawyer, Maneshinde, has repeatedly applied for the bail on the grounds that his client was found without any possession of drugs and has no association with the other accused in the matter. During the remand hearing that took place earlier last week, the anti-drugs agency had admitted that drugs weren't found on Aryan. However, the NCB did seize 5 gms of (hashish) from Merchant and 6 gms of cannabis from Dhamecha.


Aryan, along with seven others, was detained by the NCB during a raid on a cruise ship off Mumbai coast earlier this month. The raid was conducted based on a tip-off that a rave party was happening onboard. The cruise ship was on its way to Goa from Mumbai.

Meanwhile, the NCB has asked film producer Imtiyaz Khatri to appear again before the anti-drugs agency on Monday. On Saturday, the probing agency conducted searches at his residence and office in Bandra, Mumbai, and questioned the producer for nearly eight hours before the next summon.


Khatri's name cropped up during the interrogation of the accused persons, who were earlier arrested in the drugs seizure case, the official said, adding that the NCB has been cracking down on the drug peddlers and suppliers in the metropolis.

The NCB also questioned Aryan's driver on Saturday.