MUMBAI: Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan and the other two accused were remanded in Narcotic Control Bureau (NCB) custody for one day in the Cordelia Cruise Ship drug case on Sunday.
NCB had arrested the three accused namely Aryan Khan, Arbaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha under sections 20 (b), 27, 28 & 29 of the NDPS Act and they were produced before the holiday court on Sunday after their medical.
The holiday court granted one-day custody of all three accused to NCB. They will be produced again before the court tomorrow for their judicial custody. NCB had also arrested five other accused, Nupur Satija, Ishmeet Singh Chadha, Mohak Jaiswal , Gomit Chopra and Vikrant Chhokar, who will be produced before the court on Monday after their medical.
Aryan Khan and the other two accused were arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau in connection with the seizure of banned drugs on a cruise off the Mumbai coast.
Special Prosecutor for the NCB, Advocate Advait Sethna had sought police custody for two days, Khan's lawyer conceded to one day's custody.
“Your honour may take me in custody and remand me for one day so that whatever investigation needs to be done, is done. Because I am neither found in possession nor is there an allegation of consumption. None of the sections attracts the embargo under sec 37 of the NDPS", Khan's lawyer Satish Maneshinde submitted. Maneshinde submitted that he will tender the bail application tomorrow before the regular court.
Officials of NCB Mumbai conducted a raid on the Cordelia Cruise on the way from Mumbai to Goa on October 2, 2021. A total of 8 persons, including Aryan Khan, were detained after the raids. The accused were arrested in connection with the seizure of 13 grams of cocaine, 5gms of MD (mephedrone), 21 grams of charas, 22 pills of MDMA (ecstasy) and Rs 1,33,000 at the International Cruise Terminal, Mumbai
After the getting tip of the rave party, 22 officials of NCB booked tickets as normal passengers on the cruise by paying Rs 80,000 per passenger. These officials entered the cruise in plain clothes and conducted the raid and took the video of the people who were in possession of drugs on the ship. The code word for the rave party was RP-PCR.
A source said that the Mumbai police had also got a tip about this same party but they could not afford to buy this high-cost ticket for the cruise party and were not sure about the large scale drug racket and probable big names.
Jurgen Bailom, from Cordelia Cruises, issued a statement clarifying their stand. He said, by means of this statement, “I wish to express that Cordelia Cruises is in no way, directly or indirectly, connected to this incident. Cordelia Cruises had chartered its ship for a private event to a Delhi based event management company. Cordelia Cruises is extremely mindful of providing wholesome entertainment to families who choose to travel with us. This incident is contrarian and far from the culture that Cordelia Cruises represents. We, at Cordelia Cruises, condemn all acts such as these and will strictly refrain from letting our ship out for similar events in the future. Nonetheless, Cordelia Cruises is extending our full support and cooperating with the authorities.”