The Bombay High Court on Saturday (November 20) released a detailed bail order and stated that there's no evidence of a conspiracy between Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant, and Munmun Dhamecha to commit drug-related offences. "There is hardly any positive evidence on record to convince this Court that all the accused persons with common intention agreed to commit unlawful act," the High Court said.
The single bench of Justice Nitin Sambre had granted bail to the three on October 28 after their arrest on October 2 following a raid on a cruise by the NCB.
It further said that nothing objectionable was found in WhatsApp conversations between Aryan Khan and Arbaaz Merchantt. "There is hardly any positive evidence on record to convince this Court that all the accused persons with common intention agreed to commit unlawful act," the order read.
It further explained that "merely because Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant, and Munmun Dhamecha were travelling on the same cruise," that by itself cannot be termed as "satisfying foundaotin" for invoking provisions of Section 29 against them.
Here are the key points of the 14-page detailed order:
- No criminal evidence against the accused.
- No material evidence to connect Aaryan’s WhatsApp chats.
- Aryan was not found in any possession of any objectionable substance.
- Munmun and Arbaaz were found with substance. Both of them had small quantities of drugs.
- There was no meeting of minds in this case.
- Munmun has no previous connection with Aryan and Arbaaz.
- After accessing Aryan’s chats, it was found there was no conspiracy.
- There is hardly any evidence that there was conspiracy to commit a crime.
"Court has already observed that there is no material on record to infer that Applicants have hatched conspiracy to commit the offence. That being so, at this stage, it is difficult to infer that Applicants are involved in an offence of commercial quantity. As such, parameters laid down under Section 37 of the NDPS Act will be of hardly any consequence while considering the prayer for grant of bail of the Applicants," the Court said.
All the three accused were granted bail by the High Court on October 28.
The Court also noted that Khan was not in possession of drugs while the other two had "small quantities" of drugs under the NDPS Act.
An NCB team busted an alleged drugs party on the Cordelia Cruise ship which was on its way to Goa at mid-sea on October 2 night. Eight persons were detained for questioning by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in connection with the drug seizure on the cruise ship. All of the eight persons were later arrested on October 3 including, Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant, and Munmun Dhamecha. A total of 20 people including, Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant, and Munmun Dhamecha were arrested so far in connection with the case.
-with inputs from Rajeev Singh, ANI
