12 hours ago
- copy link
Hearing in the Mumbai cruise drugs case involving Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan, the Special NDPS Court has now granted bail to a man who was accused of allegedly supplying drugs to Aryan and his friend Arbaaz Merchant. In this case, the court has said that no such evidence has been found that the alleged supplier had supplied drugs to both Aryan and Arbaaz on the cruise.
NDPS Court Judge VV Patil said on the matter, “The contention of the prosecution that the petitioner is a drug peddler and supplied drugs to Arbaaz Merchant cannot be accepted.” The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on October 9 arrested 33-year-old Shivraj Harijan, a resident of Mumbai’s Santa Cruz, after Arbaaz Merchant’s alleged statement. NCB had also claimed that 62 grams of charas was also recovered from Shivraj.
The drugs found from Shivraj were very less in quantity.
The NDPS court also observed in the hearing that the evidence presented does not appear to suggest that any conspiracy has been hatched, as is being alleged by the NCB. Shivraj’s lawyer Sandeep Sherkhane said that the Panchnama of NCB is false and misrepresentative, which cannot be relied upon. He further said that the drugs found from Shivraj were very less in quantity.
Shivraj should also be released
The NDPS court said that apart from the statements of Aryan and Arbaaz given to the NCB, no such evidence has come to the fore to prove that Shivraj Harijan is a drug peddler. Also, the quantity of 62 grams of drugs is non-commercial, on the basis of which strict section 37 of the NDPS Act cannot be applied to them. This section can be invoked only when drugs are seized in huge quantity from a person. The court said that since Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha have already been granted bail by the Bombay High Court, Shivraj Harijan should also be released.
Aryan’s bail order was made public by the court on November 20
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) did not have any evidence against Aryan Khan, who was in custody for 26 days in the cruise drugs case. The detailed order of bail granted to Aryan, son of Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan from the Bombay High Court, was made public on 20 November. The court has blown away all the theory of NCB in a detailed order of 14 pages.
The Bombay High Court has held that there is no concrete evidence that Aryan Khan, along with other accused, conspired for drug consumption. Aryan Khan’s WhatsApp chat can also not be considered as any special evidence.