[Aryan Khan drug case] Mumbai court reserves order in bail plea by Aachit Kumar

A Mumbai court on Tuesday reserved its order on the bail plea filed by Aachit Kumar, accused in the cruise ship drug case, who was arrested after prime accused Aryan Khan and his friend Arbaaz Merchant named Kumar in their statement to the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).

. Kumar’s lawyer Advocate Ashwin Thool argued that Kumar had been illegally detained .

His further contention was that the NCB had named Kumar as a ‘drug peddler’ without showing even a single transaction where he acted as a peddler.

He submitted that NCB recovered only a small quantity of substance from Kumar which was to be used for personal consumption.

. Opposing the plea vehemently, Special Public Prosecutor Advait Sethna for NCB pointed out to the Court that investigation had revealed that Kumar used to possess contraband in quantities higher than what was needed for personal consumption.

He was also responsible for distributing the same to Khan and Merchant. This was evident based on WhatsApp conversations allegedly exchanged between the two.

. However, according to Thool, the conversation between Kumar and Khan were purportedly about an online poker game, which the two used to play together.

Thool clarified that the conversations were limited to the poker game and had nothing to do with the cruise ship party.

. Interestingly, this argument had also been advanced by Senior Advocate Amit Desai before the Bombay High Court during the hearing of Khan’s bail application .

After hearing the submissions, Special Judge VV Patil reserved the bail plea for orders.

. The Court also commenced hearing bail pleas of two other accused in the cruise ship case, Nupur Satija and Gomit Chopra.

Both had been arrested after an intermediate quantity of substance had allegedly been recovered from them.

. Advocate Ayaz Khan appearing for Satija argued that the search of the cruise and the persons was conducted by panch witnesses which was legally impermissible.

Only an officer above the rank of an intelligence officer is empowered to search and recover contraband, the advocate argued.

He also pointed out another procedural lapse committed during arrest.

Relying upon Section 46 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, Advocate Khan contended that his client, a woman, had been detained post sunset which is illegal.

Her arrest on October 3 was by a male officer which is also illegal, he vehemently argued.

. Meanwhile Advocate Kushal Mor appearing for Chopra pointed out that there was no connection between his client and the first three accused including Khan, Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha.

Assuming the allegation of recovery of substance from him was true, he argued that the quantity was only for his personal consumption.

Further, unlike the prime accused in the case, there were no WhatsApp chats to prove any allegations.

He also submitted that the provisions pertaining to conduct of search against a person under Section 50 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act had not been followed by the NCB officials, hence whatever evidence NCB is showing against Chopra cannot be held against him.

. The arguments by NCB will continue on Wednesday.

[Aryan Khan drug case] Mumbai court reserves order in bail plea by Aachit Kumar

Neha Joshi

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