The Bombay High Court on Tuesday extended Aryan Khan’s bail hearing by another day. The hearing in the case will resume on Wednesday afternoon at 2.30 pm.
In today’s hearing, former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi argued that Aryan Khan was a young man who should be sent to rehab rather than jail. Rohatgi, who landed in Mumbai on Monday, appeared for Aryan Khan as the Bombay High Court has begun hearing in his bail plea on Tuesday. It was Aryan’s third bail hearing since his arrest by NCB on October 3.
Appearing for Aryan Khan, Rohatgi told Bombay HC that WhatsApp chats recovered from the 23-year-old’s phone by the NCB have nothing to do with the cruise terminal incident. He said these chats are from before the raid happened, which the central agency is using to say Aryan had knowledge of the presence of drugs on the ship and was also dealing with relevant people.
Rohatgi said there was no need to arrest Aryan Khan since he had nothing on him. neither has anything been said that he had consumed some drugs nor was any test done on him to ascertain if he had done so.
In his appeal in the High Court against the special court order, the 23-year-old said the Narcotics Control Bureau is misinterpreting his WhatsApp chats. In addition, he claimed no contraband was recovered from him after the NCB raided the ship on October 3. The NCB in its reply opposing the bail stated that Aryan is not just a drug consumer, but also involved in drug trafficking, tampering with the witnesses.
Earlier, the NCB, which has listed Aryan as accused no. 1 and has alleged he is in touch with an international drug cartel, filed an affidavit opposing bail. The agency accused Pooja Dadlani, his father actor Shah Rukh Khan’s manager, of trying to influence witnesses. In a counter-affidavit, Aryan Khan denied these claims, stressing that he had nothing to do with allegations of a payoff involving the lead investigator on his case, NCB officer Sameer Wankhede.