[BREAKING] 10 grounds on which Aryan Khan has sought bail from Mumbai Sessions Court in Cruise ship drug case

Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan, has moved the Mumbai Sessions Court seeking bail on the ground that he has been falsely implicated in the cruise ship drug case, in which he is the prime accused.

Khan has sought bail on the following grounds:

1. There has been neither any recovery (of any banned substance) from him by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) nor any incriminating material against him;

2. Even though there was no recovery form him, assuming without prejudice that the allegations against him are true, the maximum punishment under Section 20(b) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS Act) is upto 1 year;

3. The offences arraigned against Khan are Sections 8(c), 20(b), 27, 28, 29, 35 of the NDPS Act. But since no Narcotic drugs or psychotropic substance has been recovered from him, the bar against grant of bail under Section 37 of the NDPS Act will not apply.

   "Given that no narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances have been seized from Khan, assuming without admitting them to be true, would pertain strictly to small quantities, the bar under Section 37(1) of the NDPS Act will not apply," the bail plea said.

4. The recoveries of the other accused cannot be held against Khan nor can the entire recovery be used against him in light of the precedents of the Supreme Court and High Court;

5. That NCB is relying solely upon the WhatsApp chats without verifying the accuracy of the chats;

   Further, "there is nothing to suggest that these alleged chats have any connection to the case";

6. The Bombay High Court had recently granted bail to a young accused on the ground that there were no antecedents which is similar to the facts of the present case;

7. Provisions under the NDPS Act have been mechanically applied without any evidence or corroborating evidence to support ingredients for the offences;

8. There is no credible or admissible material with respect to Khan that NCB has managed to show even in the remand applications;

9. There is nothing to suggest that Khan is in any way connected with the manufacture, possession, purchase or transport of the substances and hence the ingredients for the offences under NDPS Act are not made out;

10. That merely providing money for a particular transaction would not bring it within the purview of the Section 27A, as was held in the case of Rhea Chakraborty by the Bombay High Court.

Relying upon a judgment of the Supreme Court, Khan's application stated that the purpose of custody is not to detain the accused for the purposes of giving him a taste of conviction prior to conviction.

He added that "he was the son of a prominent Bollywood film actor" with permanent roots in the society. He assured that he was not going to tamper with the evidence or witnesses neither going to "abuse his liberty if enlarged on bail".

Khan submitted in his application that considering the offences were bailable, he was ready and willing to furnish bail, in light of which bail may be granted.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate RM Nerlikar had earlier rejected the bail application, holding that the application was not maintainable as only special court of sessions is entitled to hear the bail plea.

In light of the order, Khan moved the special court under the NDPS Act seeking bail.

The bail plea will be heard on October 13, Wednesday.