No bail for Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan in drugs case, to remain in NCB custody till October 7

Mumbai, Oct 04: Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, and two others have been sent to the NCB custody till October 7 for further interrogation in connection with the seizure of banned drugs onboard a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast.

The court, in its order, noted that the investigation in the case was of prime importance and considering this aspect, the further presence of the accused before the NCB was necessary. The fact is that the co-accused in the case were found in possession of intermediate drugs and these three accused (Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha) were accompanying them.

"Investigation is of prime importance and presence of the accused is needed for detailed investigation. It is useful for both the prosecution and the accused to prove their innocence, the court said.

Based on a tip-off that a party was scheduled on the ship, an NCB team, led by its zonal director Sameer Wankhede, had raided the Goa-bound ship on Saturday evening and recovered drugs from some of the passengers. "During the raid, over 20 officials of the Mumbai NCB boarded the ship posing as customers. There were 1,800 people on the ship but after checking all were asked to go except the eight including Aryan Khan," the official said.

Of the eight persons, the NCB arrested Aryan Khan, Munmun Dhamecha, daughter of a businessman from Madhya Pradesh, and Arbaaz Merchant, son of a timber businessman, and produced them before a court in Mumbai on Sunday.

Five others were arrested later in the evening and they will be produced before the court on Monday.

During the raids, the NCB seized 13 gm of cocaine, 21 gm of charas, 22 pills of MDMA, and 5 gm of mephedrone along with Rs 1.3 lakh cash.

The drugs were recovered from suspects who had concealed them in their clothes, undergarments and purses, reported news agency Press Trust of India, quoting an unnamed official of the Narcotics Control Bureau.