Aryan Khan drug case: Co-accused Arbaaz Merchant moves Mumbai court for bail, CCTV footage

Arbaaz Merchant, close friend of Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan's son Aryan Khan, and a co-accused in the cruise ship drug case, has moved a Mumbai court seeking CCTV footage from the international terminal of the Mumbai Port Trust recorded on October 2, 2021.

Merchant along with Aryan Khan were arrested by Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) with 14 others after a raid was conducted on Cordelia Cruises' Empress ship based on specific information regarding an alleged rave party.

On Monday, October 4, Merchant along with Khan and seven others were remanded to NCB custody till October 7, 2021.

In his application filed through Advocate Tareq Sayad, Merchant stated that NCB recorded a voluntary statement under Section 67 (power to call for information) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

He claimed that on the basis of a panchnama on October 2 with the statement, he came to be arrested in the matter for his involvement in the consumption, sale, purchase and attempt to commit offences under Sections 8(c), 20(b), 27, 28, 29 and 35 of NDPS Act.

His contention was that the International Terminal was a restricted area where bonafide persons having either security passes or valid travel documents were permitted and the entire area was under CCTV and video surveillance.

He submitted that "no contraband was recovered from him or his shoes" as was alleged by NCB and "a false case had been hoisted upon them".

"Documents and witnesses may lie, but CCTV footage which is recorded under supervision of a body like the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) will definitely throw a clear and genuine picture of the genuineness of the case of the prosecution," Merchant's application stated.

Along with a copy of the CCTV footage, Merchant has also sought, in the interim, directions to NCB to preserve the CCTV footage of October 2, 2021 from 11.30 am to 8.30 pm.

Merchant has also filed an application seeking bail, however the same will be pressed for only after he is remanded to judicial custody.

In the bail application, Merchant stated that the facts in the panchnama and the remand application were completely misleading and contrary to each other.

The allegation by NCB against Merchant was that he was allegedly in possession of 6 grams of charas for consumption.

Merchant contended that assuming the drug was found with him, the only charge that was maintainable against him was under Section 27 of the NDPS Act for which the maximum punishment is upto a year with no minimum punishment.

Merchant contended further that the alleged recoveries shown by NCB in their remand application were combined recoveries and did not show individual recoveries which assuming to be true, were in fact non-commercial quantities.

His final contention was that there was no connection between him and the co-accused or even the organisers of the cruise.

There was admittedly no recovery of any guest card which was pre-requisite for entering the cruise, it was submitted.