Aryan Khan granted bail [LIVE UPDATES from Bombay High Court]

The Bombay High Court will continue hearing the bail plea filed by Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan in the cruise ship drug case.Yesterday, Justice Nitin Sambre heard arguments for Arbaaz Merchant, one of the co-accused. Merchant's counsel, Senior Advocate Amit Desai told the Court that the WhatsApp chats do not reveal any conspiracy on the part of Merchant as alleged by NCB and also are not admissible as evidence.Another co-accused Munmun Dhamecha also made submissions yesterday.Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Anil Singh is expected to argue today on behalf of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).Read Live Updates from the Bombay High Court below..Justice Sambre's Court has reached Item 25 and Aryan Khan case is listed as Item 39..Justice Sambre is hearing kept back matters now. He is on kept back matter, item 14. ASG Anil Singh is on his legs before another Bench. After finishing that matter, he will come to Justice Sambre’s court..The Court had indicated yesterday that hearing will begin post 2.30 pm..Justice Sambre is continuing to hear matters serially now. Item 32 called out..ASG Anil Singh is waiting outside Justice Sambre’s Court. Advocate Shreeram Shirsat from his team is waiting in Court. Justice Sambre is now hearing Item no. 35..Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi with Advocate Satish Maneshinde with the team from Karanjawala & Co have come to Court..Reporters have still been asked to wait out in line, like yesterday. Once judge presides, they will be let in one by one. .ASG Anil Singh with Advocate Shreeram Shirsat have come to Court. .Reporters have been let in. Justice Sambre is now hearing kept back matters. All counsel are in Court..ASG Anil Singh to argue for the NCB..ASG Anil Singh: Aryan Khan is a regular consumer of drugs. There is evidence to prove that he has been providing drugs..ASG Anil Singh: We have argued about conscious possession. If two people are together and one person knows about the possession and use of drugs of the second person, then the first person is in conscious possession..ASG : They are (Aryan and Arbaaz) are childhood friends. They travelled together and were going to be staying in the same room. .ASG Anil Singh: They are arguing that we have not tested to find out about consumption. We are only arguing about possession. Aryan Khan was in conscious possession of drugs..ASG Anil Singh: This case is about conscious possession and planning to consume..ASG Anil Singh: Scheme of NDPS act. Section 29 does not say that the person has to be in possession..ASG Anil Singh: When we apply Section 28 and 29 commercial quantity kicks in. He made an attempt to deal with commercial quantity..ASG Anil Singh: Multiple drugs were found with all 8 people from all places on the same day. See the quantity and nature of drug. Court: So, you are saying it is cumulative?ASG: When I say conspiracy, when I calculate drugs of all persons, then it comes to that..ASG: WhatsApp chats cannot be disputed because we have 65B statements..ASG: It was a party. My learned friend is saying why we have arrested on October 2 on Gandhi Jayanti.. it is dry day we should have left them. (Laughs) .ASG: There are two other panchnamas of Munmun Dhamecha & Nupur and Mohak. The total drug quantity of ecstasy is commercial quantity. .ASG: There were variety of drugs and the cruise was two days. So, it cannot be that this as personal consumption. Because the quantity and the multiple drugs. This is why we have applied Sections 28, 29..ASG Anil Singh: It cannot be a coincidence that so many people on the cruise, 8 were found with drugs and there was multiple varieties..Bombay High Court: You are invoking 37 because of commercial quantity?ASG: We are invoking because of 28 and 29. Their contention is the arrest memo does not have Section 28 and 29. But the first remand was four hours after arrest..ASG: But even first remand has Section 28 and 29. The magistrate while granting remand considered 28 and 29. Rigours of 37 kicks in only because of 28 and 29. "Only because of commercial".ASG: Their contention was that I was not found with possession.It may not have been found on your body but then see the panchnama. It was found from Arbaaz..ASG is reading panchnama, where Arbaaz has handed out substance from his shoes and given to the NCB officer..ASG: And they say they are going inside to have a “blast”. The charas was meant for smoke during cruise journey. They were in possession though physically with Arbaaz. And it was for their consumption..ASG: It was for both of them. This is further elaborated in other records. Kindly see the order of Sessions Court. ASG is reading out the order Para 25..ASG - Now, milord may see the judgments. Bombay High Court judgment says bail application under NDPS can be granted based on more than prima facie case. "Bail is not a rule".ASG: Supreme Court judgment says that drug menace is a more heinous crime than culpable homicide and has to be tackled stringently..Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi: My friend is reading last para of Dhariwal’s judgment. Bombay High Court: How does that Para open?.ASG: My learned friend relied on Tofan Singh, but it applies not at the stage of bail. ASG is reading out Tofan Singh judgment: Now see judgment of Sahil Shah. It does not rely on Tofan singh..Court: But this is 438 stage.ASG: There are two judgments, but rest are bail. But the question is at what stage Tofan Singh will apply. It does not apply before trial..ASG is reading a Madras High Court judgment: Bail and trial are two different stages of a matter. .ASG: They have relied on Tofan Singh and said this. ASG is showing judgments on conscious possession..ASG is showing Ratan Malik judgment. In this case also person was not found in possession.Still a person can be liable for offence. Look at Showik Chakraborty..ASG is showing judgments to show how rigours of Section 37 will apply in cases of grant of bail..ASG: One of the arguments advanced on the arrest memo. Kindly see..ASG: The arrest memo mentions commercial quantity and it mentions that he had consumption with commercial quantity..ASG: It is not that they were not aware of Sections 28 and 29. In the remand copy, four hours later these were added. The lawyers were aware..ASG: There is difference of wording of Section 50 of CrPC. It says ground has to be forthwith. They were informed within 4 hours. Can it be said they were not informed?.ASG: If there is an infirmity the same gets rectified as soon as remand order is given..ASG: My contention that there are three orders of remand which have not been challenged and they cannot come now and say that arrest was illegal. They have still not challenged the remand orders..ASG: Two conditions, one is they may argue that there is no communication. But they must satisfy the court that the Magistrate has not taken into consideration these factors, which he has..ASG is showing judgment of Supreme Court in Madhu Limaye..ASG: These judgments say that by way of judicial order, remand order has been passed..ASG: My contention is he was found in possession. He was connected with drug peddlers. It was commercial quantity. Hence we invoked 28 and 29. It was only 4 hours and they were aware of the grounds..ASG: So it cannot be illegal arrest. Conspiracy is difficult to prove. Only the conspirator knows how they conspired. I will leave to the conscience of the court..ASG: Para 4 of my reply, it can be seen that there is a chance of tampering of evidence because there was an affidavit which had names and details. So it cannot be said that there was no tampering..ASG: Plus there are WhatsApp chats. Also, we have found CDR which show that there was connection with Ishmeet. She was carrying drugs that is shown by statements of Baldev and Soumya..ASG shows the WhatsApp chats with 65B certificate..Sr. Adv. Rohatgi rejoins: I was not aware what he was carrying, take it that he knew.. but the most that they can allege against us is commercial quantity collectively..Sr. Adv. Rohatgi: That is added with conspiracy. There is no 27A invoked against me. The conspiracy with 5-8 people with me, their recovery after you total up then there is commercial quantity..Sr. Adv. Rohatgi: There were 1300 people on the ship and there was connection only between Aryan and Arbaaz. The conspiracy alleged against.. this is not a co-incidence, it is conspiracy..Sr. Adv. Rohatgi: There was no conspiracy because there was no meeting of minds. There was no discussion that they met and decided that they will get the substance and smoke, that is conspiracy..Sr. Adv. Rohatgi: If there are people in a hotel in different rooms and they smoke, are all people in hotel in conspiracy? There is no material for calling it a conspiracy in this case..Sr. Adv. Rohatgi: I knew only Arbaaz, I did not know anyone else. It is true it is difficult to prove that there is common meeting of mind. But facts cannot be ignored. There has to be meeting of minds. There may be conscious possession of 6 gms, but how do you prove the other recovered substance?.Sr. Adv. Rohatgi: Their argument is that because it is not coincidence it is a conspiracy. Conspiracy can’t have anything to do with conjecture..Rohatgi is now countering the judgements given by ASG under Section 67 of the NDPS Act..Sr. Adv. Rohatgi: Come to Nawaz Malik judgment. This was a case where there was a car and three people were there and one was carrying substance. So then there was a submission that the possession was not conscious..Sr. Adv. Rohatgi: The court discusses what is conscious possession. The standard of conscious possession is what is deemed from the facts..Sr. Adv. Rohatgi: Let us apply to this case. I was in conscious possession that Arbaaz was carrying but how do you say that for others. It is not like they were carrying together. .Court: I will keep it tomorrow for conditions..Bombay High Court grants bail to Aryan Khan in Cruise Drug Case. The detailed order will be given tomorrow including operative part..The entire order with reasons, bail conditions will come out tomorrow. So, there is still time for Aryan Khan to be released. He has gotten bail on the 25th day after arrest.

Aryan Khan granted bail [LIVE UPDATES from Bombay High Court]

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