Aryan Khan, the prime accused in the cruise drugs case, told the Bombay high court on Tuesday that the NCB does not have any evidence to show that any drugs were recovered from his possession, or that he had consumed any. He further told the HC that the WhatsApp chats relied upon by the NCB had nothing to do with the present case and neither did these establish any case of consumption against him.
A bench of Justice Nitin Sambre was hearing a bail application filed by Aryan through his advocate, Satish Maneshinde. Aryan was also being represented by senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi and Karanjawala & Co.
Arguing for Aryan, Rohatgi pointed out that there was no evidence of possession or consumption against his client. “While arresting my client, the NCB had conducted a search but there wasn’t any recovery. There is no medical examination to show he had consumed drugs at the relevant time,” Rohatgi pointed out.
“My client is wrongly arrested on charges of conscious possession. My client had come to the cruise along with co-accused Arbaz Merchantt, from whom the NCB allegedly recovered six grams of charas,” the senior counsel said, adding, “but that isn’t conscious possession as I had no knowledge of the drugs found in Arbaz’s shoe.”
Rohatgi further said that the only charge against his client was of consciously conspiring with other accused but for that too, it had to show how I (Aryan) was connected to the other 20 accused. “It has to show meeting of the minds. It isn’t a case wherein a party was going on and there was a sudden raid. They have created a really vague case against my client.”
