Aryan Khan Case: Aryan Khan has been in Mumbai's Arthur Road jail since October 8.
Actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan did not get bail today as the hearing in the drugs case will be continued tomorrow after 2:30 PM. Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh will reply on behalf of the anti-drugs agency Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) tomorrow. Mr Singh has said he'll take an hour to conclude the arguments.
Today, advocates Amit Desai, Mukul Rohatgi and Ali Kashif Khan Deshmukh argued on behalf of the accused. Mr Desai, appearing for accused Arbaaz Merchant, said the court was misled into believing during the first remand that it's a conspiracy case. He said the arrested persons must be informed of grounds of their arrest.
Mr Deshmukh, representing accused Munmum Dhamecha, said she had no connection with the recoveries made during the searches on the cruise.
Aryan Khan has been in jail since October 8. He was arrested after drug raids on a cruise ship party on October 2 by the NCB.
Aryan Khan has been denied bail twice before. The special anti-drugs court that denied him bail last week said he knew about charas hidden in his friend Arbaaz Merchant's shoe, and this amounted to "conscious possession". Arbaaz Merchant was also arrested along with Aryan and 18 others.
Here are the LIVE updates on Aryan Khan's Bail Hearing:
LIVE: No Bail For Aryan Khan Yet, Arguments To Continue Tomorrow
Arguments to continue tomorrow after 2:30pm. ASG to reply on behalf of NCB tomorrow. ASG says he will take an hour to conclude arguments.
Judge: Something was found in the luggage of Sowmya Singh...but they were allowed to go?
Lawyer: They are relying upon conscious possession. But I entered the room two minutes ago.
Mr Deshmukh: During the search of Sowmya Singh and Munmun Dhamecha, nothing was recovered but during the search of luggage of Sowmya Singh, rolling paper and filter pegs were found. How is this connected with me? Nothing is seized from me. Till date they have failed to prove who brought those drugs on the ship. I am from MP and I have no friends or connections here. Just because I was present in the room where they found charas they have arrested me.
Mr Deshmukh: The team searched the room and one packet of substance was found which was later found to be charas. On weighing it was found to be 5 gms. Nothing else was found and they were taken for searching.
Advocate Ali Kashif Khan Deshmukh Argues For Accused Munmun DhamechaNow Ali Kashif Khan Deshmukh argues for accused Munmun Dhamecha.
"I (Munmun) was in the ship. NCB raid happened in the room. Two other people were in the room," he said.
Amit Desai: We are all available to the agency. Investigation has been done and nothing has been recovered further. Bail may be granted.
Aryan Khan Case: "Infringement Of Constitutional Guarantees": AdvocateAmit Desai: There is no conspiracy and there has been no recovery when I (the accused) was arrested. Recovery was made later from other people who were arrested much later. This is a draconian legislation and there is a duty to apply mind. This is a direct infringement of constitutional guarantees. This is how the Supreme Court has dealt with it.
Amit Desai: These constitutional issues will arise because none of these other people they have made recoveries from were not even arrested at that time.
Mukul Rohatgi: If there is a constitutional informity then that cannot be cured by remand. They had the phone. They will tell you they have WhatsApp chats. I am handicapped. I do not know what they have. They chose to mislead the court. I had nothing with me.
Drugs-On-Cruise Case: Mukul Rohatgi Says "Article 22 More Important Than Section 50"Mukul Rohatgi: "Article 22 of the Constitution is more important than section 50 of CrPC. No person who is arrested not be held without being informed of grounds of arrest and such person shall have the right to consult a lawyer of his choice."
Mukul Rohatgi: "Please look at the arrest memo of Aryan Khan. It is identical. What it refers to are items not recovered from me. There is a legal connotation for this. The law says you must give true and correct grounds for this. This takes us back to the CrPC section 50. Persons arrested have the right to be informed of arrest and grounds of bail"
Amit Desai: "There is no real clear evidence for application of Section 29. There are circumstances to show there is no conspiracy."
Amit Desai: "In analog form images can't undergo change. In digital form images can be changed. Digital evidence has to be verified and Punjab and Haryana High Court had said so in an NDPS matter. In this case there is no seizure memo related to the phones. They argued it was voluntarily handed over. There is a law that immediately there has to be a memo.
Punjab and Haryana High Court has said that if there is no 65B, WhatsApp chats will be rejected.
These WhatsApp chats have the availability for tampering. They can be tampered. Now we are seeing on the media and we do not know if it is true or false."
Aryan Khan Case Updates: Amit Desai Begins Concluding ArgumentsAmit Desai: "What has he done? The team of officers have seized all items. What was recovered? Only 6 gms from Arbaaz and 5 gms from Munmun. But they have said there is 21 gms. There is no connection, no WhatsApp messages and telephone calls between them. Learned judge rejected because there is a commercial quantity. This is where the problem is. The only thing they have argued to keep us in custody is so called WhatsApp chats. One thing is abundantly clear. There is no WhatsApp chat to support the conspiracy theory."
"Your lordships have taken a view on issues like media trial and we are dealing with it."
Aryan Khan Case: "No Evidence Of Agreement", Says Advocate
Amit Desai: They say everybody is connected. But there is no evidence of an agreement. These principles have been settled by the Supreme Court. Intention to commit crime, joining hands with another person also to commit a crime and having an agreement to do so is what is conspiracy.
Amit Desai: It is necessary to show a meeting of minds. Three unconnected people coming for the same purpose is not a conspiracy. Concurrence to commit an unlawful act is not conspiracy, there has to be an agreement. This aspect was considered in an NDPS matter in our own High Court.
Aryan Khan Case: Bail Hearing Updates For Other AccusedAmit Desai: Two of the very persons also in this case, also two young children, have been released. These are young children who came for a party. Those two were arrested on charges under section 29. Today we read that those two who came from Odisha, in whose case replies were identical, the learned judge granted them bail. These boys were on the vessel, they enjoyed the party and came back when they were arrested. There was a small recovery from one of those boys. Manish and Avin were the accused. They were two independent people. There is no connection between all these people.
Amit Desai: If the party was organised where everybody was smoking and drugs were freely available then section 29 will apply. Consumes is a verb. It's an action. Section 27 is about consumption. This has not happened. Law on conspiracy is also well settled.
Aryan Khan Case: Advocate Says, "At Highest, This Is An Intention To Consume"
Amit Desai: They realised that these two boys don't have any cash. They add there is an admission of consumption. But they decided to invoke joint possession in spite of no recovery from Aryan. At the highest this is an intention to consume.
Amit Desai: One thing is clear. 6 gms of charas (cannabis) is supposed to have been recovered. Panchanama says, 'I confessed to having charas'. We have applied for CCTV footage of the international cruise terminal because we have a view all this is untrue.
Confession added to the Panchanama is inadmissible.
Drugs-On-Cruise: No Allegation Of Use In Arrest Memo, Says Advocate
Advocate Amit Desai: There was no allegation of use in the arrest memo. So there was a clear understanding that this is a case of nothing more than consumption. On their own shoeing these three people have nothing to do with the conspiracy.
Aryan Khan Case: Advocate Says Magistrate Was Misled
Amit Desai: Till today there has been no arrest for conspiracy. At 2 pm, section 41A is violated and 7 pm they are misleading the magistrate. We are now 22 days in custody. And now these matters have come up for consideration.
Amit Desai: They were arrested at 2 pm and presented before a magistrate at 7 pm. Only three people were arrested at this time. Because later there were eight people and the learned sessions judge said it's a conspiracy of the eight. The court was misled into believing in the first remand that the arrest was also under sections 28 and 29 of the NDPS Act and the learned magistrate sent them to custody for interrogation.
Drugs-On-Cruise Case: There Was No Need For Arrest, Says AdvocateAmit Desai: Only if punishment is above seven years, case is amenable to section 41A of CrPC. After due application of mind, three people are arrested individually for consumption, etc. Why was an arrest effected? There was no need for arrest here. We are seeking a release on bail due to the violation of section 41A of CrPC.
Advocate Amit Desai: "This came to be construed by Andhra Pradesh High Court in a judgement - the question that squarely came up for consideration was whether 41A will apply to NDPS act or not."
Advocate Amit Desai: "Arnesh Kumar judgement was the diktat in these kind of matters. For minor offences, the rule is no arrest and arrest is the exception."
"Section 51 of NDPS act provides for issues related to searches and seizures," he said.
Drugs-On-Cruise Case: Advocate Amit Desai Says "Arrest Was Illegal" Amit Desai: "The scope of 41A was considered at great length in a judgement. The arrest was illegal and I am making the position clear. The Supreme Court said arrest brings humiliation, curtails freedom and casts scars for ever. The power to arrest contributes to arrogance."
Mr Desai is citing the Arnesh Kumar judgement.
Drugs-On-Cruise Case: Officer Should Have Sought Cooperation, Not Arrest, Says AdvocateAmit Desai: Duty of the officer is that instead of effecting arrest he should have issued notice under CrPC 41A seeking cooperation of the accused.
Advocate Amit Desai: If there was no conspiracy at that moment, punishment was for one year. The person who arrested them treated them as if they came there individually and wanted to go on the ship and consume some drugs. If they were there for individual acts what should have been their punishment? CrPC provides what is to be done in offences of this kind.
Aryan Khan Bail Hearing: Advocate Amit Desai Begins ArgumentAdvocate Amit Desai: On that afternoon, all these three people have been arrested for identical offences without the offence of conspiracy. They were arrested only for offences under section 20B and 27 of the act...There is reason to believe from this that they had come there only for the purpose of consumption.
Senior advocate Amit Desai begins arguments for Arbaaz Merchant (Accused Number 2).
Aryan Khan Bail Hearing
Arguments today will commence with senior advocate Amit Desai arguing for Accused Number 2 Arbaaz Merchant, and then Accused Number 3 Munmun Dhamecha's lawyer followed by arguments by Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh for the Narcotics Control Bureau.
Former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, senior advocates, Satish Maneshinde, Amit Desai and ASG Anil Singh are in the court. Aryan Khan's bail application to be heard by the Bombay High Court shortly.
Aryan Khan Bail Hearing: Aryan Khan's Lawyer Reaches Court
Aryan Khan's lawyer Satish Manshinde has reached court for the bail hearing.
Accused Arbaaz Merchant's father Aslam Merchant said they should also get the benefit given to two other accused in the case, who were
granted bail yesterday.
Drugs-On-Cruise Case: 5-Member Anti-Drugs Agency Team Reaches Mumbai
A five-member team of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) reached Mumbai on Wednesday to probe allegations of corruption levelled by Prabhakar Sail, a witness in the drugs on cruise matter of Mumbai, ANI sources said on Tuesday. The team is led by Deputy Director General (DDG) of NCB Gyaneshwar Singh and 4 other NCB officers. The bodyguard of NCB witness Kiran Gosavi, Prabhakar Rohoji Sail alleged that Mr Gosavi took Rs 50 lakh from an individual after the raid at the cruise ship. Mr Sali had said, "I worked as a bodyguard of Kiran Gosavi. I assisted him during the Mumbai cruise drugs case."