Mumbai: A Mumbai Special NDPS Court Monday deferred the bail application hearing of Aryan Khan to October 13 after the Narcotics Control Bureau sought time to file its reply in the matter.
Simultaneously, Special NDPS Court’s Special Judge V.V. Patil has kept the bail pleas of other accused — Arbaaz Merchant, Munmun Dhamecha, Nupur Satija and Mohak Jaswal — also for hearing Wednesday.
At the hearing today, Khan’s lawyer Amit Desai sought the bail plea to be heard Tuesday (October 12), but the NCB’s Special Public Prosecutor A.M. Chimalker asked for Thursday (October 14), after which the Special Court posted the matter for Wednesday.
Accordingly, Khan and others will continue to spend the next two days at the Arthur Road Central Jail and the Byculla Women’s Jail till they are enlarged on bail.
All the 8 detained initially October 2 after the NCB raided the rave party aboard a luxury ship, Cordelia Cruise and arrested the following day (October 3), have been in NCB’s custody and then in judicial custody for the past nine days.
They were declined bail by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate R.M. Nerlikar last Friday on grounds of maintainability and shunted to the jails.
After these arrests, the NCB has swooped in different parts of Mumbai and nabbed another dozen accused — taking the total to 20 so far.
The NCB action in full media blitzkrieg has sparked off a huge political slugfest with the Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress calling the raids a politically motivated ‘hoax’ besides demanding an independent enquiry against the central agency and its officials.
However, the NCB has hit back, claiming no wrongdoings or irregularities and asserting that all due rules and procedures were followed in the raids and subsequent actions.