MUMBAI: An accused in the cruise ship raid case, Arbaz Seth Merchant on Thursday filed for a bail plea at Mumbai's Esplanade court.
Along with bail plea, Arbaz through his lawyer, has also filed an application seeking "CCTV footage of cruise ship to check if Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) recovered something from Arbaz or it was planted on him".
As many as 18 arrests have been made in the cruise ship raid case so far.
An NCB team busted an alleged drugs party on the Cordelia Cruise ship which was on its way to Goa at mid-sea on October 2 night.
Eight persons including Aryan Khan, Arbaz Seth Merchant, Munmun Dhamecha, Vikrant Chhoker, Ismeet Singh, Nupur Sarika, Gomit Chopra and Mohak Jaswal were produced before Mumbai's Esplanade Court on Monday which remanded them to NCB custody till October 7. They were arrested on October 3 in connection with the drug seizure on the cruise ship.
As per the NCB, three persons have been booked under Section 8C, 20B, 27 (Punishment for consumption of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance) and 35 (Presumption of culpable mental state) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS Act).
8C of NDPS Act refers to prohibition to produce, manufacture, possess, sell, purchase, transport, warehouse, use, consume, import inter-State, export inter-State, import into India, export from India or tranship any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance while Section 20B deals with punishment for producing, manufacturing, possessing, selling, purchasing, transportation, imports inter-State, exports inter-State or use of cannabis.