No bail for Aryan Khan yet, HC to continue hearing today

Tribune News Service

Mumbai/New Delhi, October 26

The Bombay High Court will continue on Wednesday hearing on a bail plea filed by Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, in the cruise drugs seizure case. Justice NW Sambre on Tuesday commenced hearing on the bail application.

NDPS court grants bail to two accused

• An NDPS court in Mumbai on Tuesday granted bail to two accused in the drugs case
• Manish Rajgaria and Avin Sahu became the first in this high-profile case to get bail
• NCB claimed the two were among ‘guests’ on the cruise ship from which 20 were held

No proof: defence on trafficking charge

• NCB opposed Aryan’s bail plea, alleging he was not just a consumer of drugs but also involved in their trafficking
• Aryan’s lawyers argued NCB had no proof and he was wrongly arrested in the case

Aryan’s lawyers Mukul Rohatgi and Satish Maneshinde argued that the NCB had no evidence against the 23-year-old, and he was wrongly arrested and kept in jail for over 20 days.

“There is no evidence of consumption, no recovery of drugs and no evidence to show his participation in this so-called conspiracy and abetment as alleged by the NCB,” Rohatgi said.

The court will on Wednesday hear the arguments of Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, appearing for the NCB.

Meanwhile, in the wake of allegations levelled by Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik against NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede, the agency’s top brass today said they would take necessary action into the matter.

After accusing Wankhede of using fake certificates to get job, Malik today alleged the officer had been illegally tapping phones. Wankhede, leading the probe into the cruise drugs case, today visited the NCB headquarters in Delhi where he spent over two hours. Some people were seen holding banners in his support. His visit to Delhi came in the backdrop of the NCB ordering a vigilance inquiry into the allegations of Rs 25 crore extortion bid made by a witness against some agency officials, including Wankhede. His wife Kranti Redkar said in Mumbai the family was getting threat calls and facing vicious trolling. (With PTI inputs)