NCB denied further custody of Aryan Khan and others in cruise related drug case; acused sent to 14 days of judicial custody

Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan and his friend Arbaaz Merchant and six others have been remanded to judicial custody of 14 days as the NCB custody of the accused ended today. The accused in the NCB cruise drug bust were presented before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate R M Nerlikar in Mumbai today where the anti-drug agency argued to get further custody of Aryan and other till October 11 but the request was denied by the Magistrate.

The bail hearing for Aryan and the others is scheduled for Friday. The accused will however be staying in the NCB office today as jails require mandatory RT-PCR report and vaccination details to admit inmates.

Aryan through his lawyer Satish Manshide argued in court today that he had gone to the cruise party raided by the NCB alone on the invitation of Pratik Gaba who co-ordinated the event. Gaba also invited Arbaaz who knew Aryan and they arrived there separately. The NCB recovered charas in Arbaaz’s possession after which he was also detained by the NCB despite no drugs being found on his person.

Aryan said he has not been interrogated for the past days by the NCB and is willing to cooperate for further investigation but said that the NCB wants to find the main accused and he cannot be held in custody till then.

The NCB wants to interrogate Aryan Khan and Arbaaz Merchant with Aachit Kumar who was later arrested in the case after the statements of the first two. The court also questioned NCB’s delay in arresting Archit after the statements of the accused as they denied NCB further custody.