Aryan Khan's arrest: NCB to oppose bail plea of Shah Rukh's son in Cruise drug bust case

The Mumbai sessions court will on Wednesday hear the bail plea of Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan in the Mumbai Cruise drug bust case. In the last hearing, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had requested for seven days time to file a reply in the case involving Aryan Khan, after which the court had scheduled the next hearing for October 13.

Sources informed Republic on Tuesday that the NCB, on Wednesday, was going to oppose the bail plea of Aryan Khan. With the arrest of two new people, and the interrogation of several others, including film producer Imtiyaz Khatri, the anti-drug agency has several strong points that will prove that 'investigation will be hindered' by the bail of Aryan Khan and other accused in Mumbai's cruise drug bust case. Aryan Khan at present is lodged at the Arthur Road jail. 

What happened during the proceedings in Magistrate Court?

Earlier, on October 8, the Magistrate court had denied bail to Aryan Khan. The Court, in its order, had asserted that the bail plea was 'not maintainable', and had directed the lawyers of Aryan Khan and 2 others accused - Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha - to move sessions court for regular bail. 

During the hearing, Aryan Khan's lawyer had argued that nothing has been found in the possession of Aryan Khan. "I thought that NCB and its law officers would know that no materials have been found with me nor in my bag and they let me go on the first day but they didn't," Satish Maeshinde had said. The lawyer, stressing for a bail, added, "This interrogation, confrontation can take place even if I am out on bail." NCB, however, had argued, "the release of the accused will hinder the probe in the drug bust case." 

Aryan Khan & 19 others arrested in Cruise drug bust case: All you need to know 

The  Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on October 2 busted a high-profile drug party on a cruise ship en route from Mumbai to Goa. The party allegedly involving celebrities, including actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan, was busted by the NCB after an eight-hour operation. Cocaine, Hashish, MDMA, and other drugs were recovered, and eight people - Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant, Munmun Dhamecha, Nupur Satija, Ishmeet Singh Chadha, Mohak Jaiswal, Gomit Chopra, and Vikrant Chhokar, were arrested. 

On the basis of information gained during the interrogation of the eight people arrested, the police arrested four people on October 4 - Shreyas Nair, Abdul Sheikh, Manish Darya, and Avin Sahu. On October 5, Gopal Jee Anand, Samir Sehgal, Manav Singhal, and Bhaskar Arora - who are said to be the organizers, were arrested in Delhi. On October 6, police arrested Achit Kumar from Powai, and on October 7, a foreign national from Bandra was arrested in follow-up operations. Later on October 9, a drug peddler named Shivraj, who used to supply drugs to Arbaaz Merchant was arrested and on October 10 Okaro Ouzama was arrested. 

The agency has so far arrested 20 people in connection with Mumbai's cruise drug bust case, including two Nigerians.