After the hearing which went on for over two hours, Justice Sambre said he would hear Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, who is representing the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), tomorrow.
File image of Aryan Khan. PTI
There was no relief for Aryan Khan, the son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, after the Bombay High Court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of his bail plea till tomorrow (Thursday, 28 October).
The hearing, which began on Tuesday before the single-judge bench of Justice Nitin W Sambre, saw the lawyers of Aryan and co-accused Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha present their case.
Senior advocate Amit Desai and former Attorney General for India, Mukul Rohatgi are representing Aryan.
Desai, in the initial phase of presenting his arguments said, as per law – “bail is the rule and jail is exception, now arrest is the rule and bail is exception”, as per Bar and Bench.
Also read: What Aryan Khan supporters need to know about NDPS Act and India’s drug war
“Is it a conspiracy?”
Desai said till today, there has been no arrest for conspiracy, and that conspiracy is a separate offence. Desai referred to the chart which Rohatgi had submitted yesterday to highlight, “There are three unconnected persons coming for the same purpose that is not conspiracy”.
Desai said even if there is concurrence in the intention of the accused, what the prosecution must prove is that there was positive intention to commit an act with common intention. “Based on chats there have been speculations of drug trafficking, but it is absurd. The device is not with us, and there is no panchnama,” he said.
While reading a panchnama filed in the case, Desai said that is a case of personal consumption. He emphasizes that the panchnama reads “except personal consumption” and that there was no allegation of use in arrest memo.
He then went on to argue that if intention to consume to a factor then that it should not apply as no medical test was done to prove it. On the same note, Desai said Section 20(b) is a theory of possession and joint possession, pointing out that consumption is a verb, and that has not happened.
Desai said WhatsApp chats dated three to one months ago were being cited and said, “So far as WhatsApp chats are concerned, it is abundantly clear that there are no WhatsApp chats to support the conspiracy theory.”
He also mentioned that without a 65B certificate (electronic evidence must be favoured), chats are not admissible anymore
In this regard he also mentioned that there was no seizure memo in relation to the ‘seized’ phones refuting the ‘voluntary handover’.
Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi argued that if there is constitutional infirmity then it cannot be cured by remand. What is important is Article 22 of the Constitution. That article flows from Article 21 (Right to life).
“What Your Lordships have been made to look at are statements which are violative of Article 14 (Equality), 19 (Free speech) and 21 (Right to life).” he added.
After the hearing which went on for over two hours, Justice Sambre said he would hear Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, who is representing the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), tomorrow.
“Tomorrow we will try to finish it,” the judge said.
What’s the case all about?
On 2 October, Aryan Khan, along with others, were arrested from on board the cruise ship Cordelia in a mid-sea drugs raid.
According to NCB officials, they seized 13 grams of cocaine, 5 grams of MD, 21 grams of charas, 22 pills of MDMA (Ecstasy) and Rs 1.33 lakh in cash during the raid. However, no drugs were found on Aryan Khan.
Aryan Khan’s bail has been rejected more than once and it remains to be seen if he will be granted bail this time around.
The NCB’s investigation is underway and actor Ananya Panday was called for questioning twice last week on the basis of WhatsApp chats found on Aryan Khan’s mobile phone.
Fresh twist in tale
Meanwhile, it has also emerged that the NCB has ordered a vigilance inquiry into the claims made by a witness in the cruise drugs case of an extortion bid of Rs 25 crore by some agency officials, including its Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede, and others for letting off accused Aryan Khan, while the under-fire IRS officer came under fresh attack from Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik on Monday.
Wankhede failed to get any relief related to an affidavit on the sensational extortion claims made by the independent witness, Prabhakar Sail, with a special court saying it cannot pass a blanket order barring courts from taking cognisance of the document.
Sail has been provided police protection by the Maharashtra government after he claimed threat to his life. The NCB vigilance inquiry will be conducted by Gyaneshwar Singh, the agency’s deputy director general (DDG) of northern region.