Shah Rukh Khan’s son, Aryan Khan, who alongwith seven others was held by the Narcotics Control Bureau on the evening of 2nd October on board Cordelia’s cruise liner, Empress, soon after it set sail from Bombay port for Goa, was arrested and booked by the NCB today (3rd) for consumption of drugs (charas). The sections of the Narcotic Drugs And Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act applied to the trio are 8(c) read with 20(b), 27, 28 and 29. The NCB had entered the cruise liner, posing as passengers, as they had information of a rave party to be held on board the cruise on Saturday night.
Of the eight arrested, Aryan Khan, film actor Arbaz Merchant, and Munmun Dhamecha were produced in court and remanded in NCB custody for a day. Dhamecha is the daughter of a businessman from Madhya Pradesh, and Arbaz Merchant, the son of a timber businessman. The five others — Nupur Satija, Ishmeet Singh Chadha, Mohak Jaiswal, Gomit Chopra and Vikrant Chhokar — were arrested late today. They will be produced in the court of the additional chief metropolitan magistrate tomorrow after their medical examination.
The NCB has claimed to have seized 13 gms. of cocaine, 21 gms. of charas, 22 MDMA pills and 5 gms. of mephedrone, besides more than Rs. 1.3 lakh cash. In the remand application seeking custody of Aryan, Arbaz and Munmun, the agency said that the trio was arrested for consumption, sale and purchase of contraband punishable under the Narcotic Drugs And Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985. An official however, said that Khan had been booked under Section 27 of the NDPS Act, only for consumption, which attracts a maximum punishment of one year’s imprisonment or with fine which may extend to Rs. 20,000.
Aryan Khan, Arbaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha were first questioned at the NCB office at Ballard Pier in Bombay. “Khan was apologetic when we asked him to accompany us to the NCB office,” an NCB official said. The three were taken for medical examination at J.J. Hospital at 4 p.m. today. They were brought back to the NCB office within 40 minutes and produced before a holiday court at 7 p.m. NCB officials said that they did not recover any contraband from Khan, but found a small quantity of charas in Arbaz Merchant’s shoes. The duo was sharing a room in the cruise liner, the NCB said.
The remand application submitted in the court stated that the NCB had found WhatsApp chats “clearly showing the nexus of those arrested with suppliers and peddlers, on a regular basis”. NCB counsel Advait Sethna argued for their custody while Satish Maneshinde (counsel for Aryan Khan) said that police remand for a bailable offence would be unfair.
It may be mentioned here that Khan and Merchant were given free entry on the cruise liner, and the organisers hoped to capitalise on the former’s celebrity quotient for furthering their business interests, an NCB official said. There were six organisers for the voyage, who had charged anything from Rs. 60,000 to Rs. 3 lakh per ticket. The Austrian owner of the ship has been summoned.
The NCB said that in the rooms of the cruise liner, they found material to facilitate consumption of drugs like ready-to-roll joints, paper and the like. “Hence we need to establish if the organisers were not aware about the drugs consumption,” an official said.