Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) asked for an extension of actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan's judicial custody for four more days, till October 11. The court went on to reject the NCB's request, but Aryan Khan's bail hearing has been deferred till tomorrow morning (October 8). Therefore, he will continue to be in the custody of the NCB, despite the earlier order which rejected the agency's request to extend Aryan Khan's remand by four more days. The bail application will be heard tomorrow at 11 AM.
The accused will remain in NCB's custody because jail authorities do not allow the accused to enter the jail after 6 PM in absence of a Covid report.
While rejecting NCB's request for the four-day extension, the court had said that simply remanding the accused to NCB custody without reason is cogent ground for violating liberty.
Lawyer Satish Maneshinde read Aryan Khan’s statement, which read, “I was arrested and picked up at the gate. I had no complaint to the officers. As far as this case is concerned, on the first day, I readily agreed for one more day of remand, thinking there will be some development. Apart from some more arrests, nothing more has happened. As far as my interrogation that has taken place, it was connected to my stay abroad. Nothing else has been questioned. If the arrested are picked up on my statement, any senior officer connected with my investigation would ascertain that it is the same person or that I have any association, but nothing has happened. Yesterday, when they arrested Kumar, they should have confronted whether Merchant and Khan were related or not. They did not. The question of confronting should not be the only ground. One more development is, the cruise organisers have been detained. They have arrested a foreign national with whom I have no connection so far.”
The statement further read, “I have a friend, Prateek, who introduced me to someone who was in touch with the organizers. He said I will be invited as VVIP. Only with that intention to add colour to the cruise, I went. There were 1,300 people and they have arrested only 17. So the entire cruise is not connected to the passengers and as one of the persons from Bollywood... but I am not connected to anyone... There are chats between me and Prateek...Prateek is also a friend of Arbaaz. So he invited Arbaaz. Based on the aforesaid events, I reached the gate where Arbaaz was also there. Before we could go to the ship, NCB asked us questions. When we started from the ship, they asked questions if I took drugs and searched my bags and my person. They found nothing. They took my mobile instrument and then took me to the NCB office.”
Aryan Khan’s lawyer read on his behalf, “Officers interrogated me and took me under arrest. I have no connection to any of the organizers. I do not deny my friendship with Arbaaz but I am not connected with his activities. He himself says he came on his own. They have interrogated me on the basis of my chats. Be that as it may, Aachit is the only person they have to confront me with, but that can be done anytime. That can be done even after I am granted bail. They have not interrogated me for two nights. Why is custodial interrogation required now?”
