Mumbai:

Aryan Khan, the 23-year-old son of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, who was arrested in the cruise ship drugs case last evening, has to stay in custody for a longer period, the anti-drugs agency Narcotics Control Bureau told a court today.  The agency said they need him in custody till October 11 to question him.

“Unless we investigate the consumer how do we know who is the supplier, who is financing it?” the agency told the court, contending that an international cartel is apparently involved in the case.  The Bombay High Court has said all offences under NDPS are non-bailable, their lawyer contended.

Aryan Khan argued that he was a special invitee to the cruise ship and “cannot be roped in with the entire seizure in the case”. “They say they have found conversation on the phone which leads them to international drug trade. In my entire stay aboard I was not involved any drug usage,” said senior advocate Satish Manshinde, appearing for Aryan Khan.

He said the investigators searched Aryan Khan’s bag and found nothing. “They found something on his friend Arbaaz merchant. They found  6 gm which is a small quantity. The other seizures were not from any of them and with whom he has no connections,” Mr Manshinde said.

Asking the court to consider his bail, Aryan Khan said: “One of the grounds for asking my custody is seizure of commercial quantity from other accused. Commercial quantity seized from other accused cannot be foisted on me. They are talking about international drug trafficking which is a very serious charge and has to be backed by evidence. WhatsApp chat without any recovery is not of significance… in several cases learned judges have granted bail and not tagged entire seizure”.

Aryan Khan — who was seen in a viral video on social media allegedly shot after the raids — has been accused of purchase, possession and use of banned substances, the agency has said.
The high-profile drug raid that led to his arrest from a cruise ship off the coast of Mumbai — where a rave party was apparently in progress — yielded 13 grams of cocaine, 21 grams of charas, 22 pills of MDMA and 5 grams of MD, the Narcotics Control Bureau has said.

The drugs were recovered from suspects who had concealed them in their clothes, undergarments and purses, reported news agency Press Trust of India, quoting an un-named official of the Narcotics Control Bureau. Besides Aryan Khan, seven others were arrested after the drugs-control team boarded the Goa-bound ship, disguised as passengers. According to officials, the party began after the ship left Mumbai.

Initially the eight people – Aryan Khan, Munmun Dhamecha, Nupur Sarika, Ismeet Singh, Mohak Jaswal, Vikrant Chhoker, Gomit Chopra and Arbaaz Merchant – were taken for questioning and were later formally arrested.

The agency lawyer told the court today that some more arrests were made this morning.

“Links in the form of chats etc. show the involvement of international cartel. It is a group of persons, like a gang,” the agency’s lawyer told the court.

“We have also raided the supplier and found commercial quantity in his Juhu residence. We have found some code names in his chat and we have to decode that. There are links of bank and cash transfer which we need to verify,” he said. The agency, he added, needs to “decode the conspiracy”.