Aryan Khan gets bail: No material to prove conspiracy, says counsel

In a major setback to the NCB the Bombay High Court on Thursday granted bail to Aryan Khan his friend Arbaaz Merchant and model Munmun Dhamecha in connection with the cruise liner drugs case The HC asked the agency what evidence it had to say Aryan was trying to deal in commercial quantities ASG Anil Singh representing NCB told the court that it only had WhatsApp chats as proof The trio and the detailed HC order will be released todayOne of the top law officers of the Union government Additional Solicitor General ASG Anil Singh who appears in exceptional cases argued against their bail while former attorney general Mukul Rohatgi argued for Aryan the son of actor Shah Rukh KhanSingh began his argument before the singlejudge bench of the HC saying that Aryan is not a firsttime offender Relying on his WhatsApp chats once again he told the court ldquoRecords show that he Aryan consumed drugs since the past few years Evidence on record shows that he was providing drugs he was in contact with a certain drug peddler and there are talks of procuring drugs in bulkrdquo The ASG had made similar arguments before the magistrate court and the special NDPS courtThe ASG told the court that the WhatsApp chats was now evidence under 65B admissibility of electronic records of the Indian Evidence Act and that the agency also has a certificateCommercial quantityWhile the ASG was arguing Justice N W Sambre interrupted him and asked on what basis was the NCB saying that Aryan tried to deal in commercial quantity of drugs The ASG said the agency was only relying on his WhatsApp chats He added that when we say conspiracy we calculate the drugs seized from all people and we have WhatsApp chats along with a 65B certificate The NCB had initially booked Aryan for consumptionFans of Shah Rukh Khan celebrate Aryans bail outside actors home Mannat on Thursday PicAtul KambleHowever the ASG on Thursday told the HC that the agency canrsquot say if the drugs were only for consumption as it has applied Section 29 punishment for abetment and criminal conspiracy of the NDPS Act He also said that cumulative drug quantity was of commercial quantity ldquoSo you are saying cumulative effect should be givenrdquo the court asked To which the ASG responded ldquoEverything needs to be investigatedrdquoNDPS Sections missingWhen the ASG told the court that the agency was invoking Sections 29 and 28 of the NDPS Act the HC reminded him that the remand application doesnrsquot mention these Sections Rohatgi and Merchantrsquos lawyer Amit Desai also told the court that even the arrest memo doesnrsquot mention those The ASG then said the NCB had mentioned those in the first remand four hours after their arrestRohatgi told the court that custody is exceptional and bail is the rule Arguing against it the ASG referred to a Supreme Court order regarding NDPS offences where it said that custody is the rule and bail is exceptional He also said that the conspiracy in this case is difficult to prove because only the conspirators know how they conspiredNo conspiracyRohatgi said that according to the NCB ldquoAachit another accused is a dealer and he was arrested with just 24 grams of a drug A dealer cannot have such a small quantity of drugs There is no material to prove conspiracyrdquoRohatgi then referred to an SC order about inadmissibility of voluntary statements Aryanrsquos bail plea had mentioned that the NCBrsquos entire case was based on voluntary statements The court too read the judgment of the apex court and granted bail to Aryan and others The detailed order of the HC mentioning the grounds on which the bail was granted will be released on FridayldquoAryan Khan has ultimately been released on bail by the HC No possession no evidence no consumption no conspiracy right from the first moment when he was detained on October 2 nor is there anything as of now We are grateful to the Almighty that our prayers were accepted by Justice N W Sambre and bail was granted to Aryanrdquo Advocate Satish Maneshinde and the legal team of Aryan After their arrest on October 2 the trio was remanded in the NCBrsquos custody for four days They were shifted to Arthur Road Jail on October 820No of days the three accused spent in jail