In a huge setback to the controversial NCB officer, Sameer Wankhede, the Bombay High Court said rejected the Narcotics Control Bureau’s claims on conspiracy hatched by Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan in the drug racket case. In a detailed bail order on Aryan Khan and his friends Arbaaz Merchant, the Bombay High Court said that there was no evidence to infer that they committed offence under the Narcotics Drug and Psychotropic Substance Act.
According to the Livelaw website, the court said, “Having regard to the material brought on record by the Respondent (NCB) on the issue of conspiracy, this court prima facie has not noticed any positive evidence against the Applicants on the said issue. This Court is of the opinion that the claim put forth by the Respondent that Applicants should be considered to have intention to commit an offence under the NDPS Act, having found in possession of commercial quantity, in the backdrop of case of hatching conspiracy is liable to be rejected.”
[BREAKING] Aryan Khan Case : No Evidence For Conspiracy; Nothing Objectionable In WhatsApp Chats, Says Bombay High Court In Bail Order @CourtUnquote https://t.co/7TCpykTJD6
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) November 20, 2021
Aryan was arrested along with seven others from a Goa-bound cruise ship on 3 October this year. He had to spend several weeks in Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail since the NCB accused him of the consumption of drugs. Although Aryan’s lawyers argued that nothing was found from his possession, the NCB sought to make a case against him citing WhatsApp chats.
The court said in its order, “After having gone through the Whats-App chats extracted from Applicant/Accused no. 1’s(Khan) phone, nothing objectionable could be noticed to suggest that Applicant nos. 1 & 2(Arbaaz Merchant) or all three applicants alongwith other Accused persons in agreement have meeting of minds and have hatched conspiracy committing the offence in question.”
Wankhede had to face serious allegations of extortion as Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik targeted him with a series of expose. KP Gosavi, whose selfie with Aryan had gone viral, was later arrested by the Maharashtra Police.
Gosavi’s personal bodyguard and NCB witness, Prabhakar Sail, had alleged that Aryan was arrested to extort Rs. 25 crore of which Rs. 8 crore was meant to be paid to Wankhede. Rs. 50 lakh was allegedly paid through one Sam D’Souza, who later told the Bombay High Court that he had returned that money to Shah Rukh Khan’s manager, Pooja Dadlani.
