In a major jolt to the investigations of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) vis-a-vis the Cordelia cruise rave party bust case, the Bombay High Court ruled that there is no evidence of a conspiracy link between Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan, social media influencer Arbaaz Merchant and actor-model Munmum Dhamecha.
Delivering the detailed 14-page standing order, Justice Nitin Sambre said after considering the material brought on record by the NCB, the court has not found prima facie that there was any positive evidence against the accused.
The court had granted bail to the trio on October 28 after their plea was initially rejected by an NDPS court and the Esplanade Magistrate Court.
“There is hardly any positive evidence on record to convince this court that all the accused persons with common intention agreed to commit unlawful acts,” the order states.
“Rather the investigations carried out till date suggests that applicant/accused no. 1 (Aryan Khan) and applicant/accused no. 2 Arbaaz Merchant were travelling independently of applicant/accused no. 3 (Munmum Dhamecha) and there is no meeting of minds on the aforesaid issue,” it stated.
Justice Sambre noted: “So as to infer the case of conspiracy against the applicants also, there is absence of material on record of them having such meeting of minds with the other accused, who were named in the offence in question.”
“This court is required to be sensitive to the fact that there has to be presence of basic material in the form of evidence so as to substantiate the case of conspiracy against the applicants (accused),” Justice Sambre noted.
He further said that no drugs were found on Khan, while the quantity recovered from Dhamecha and Merchant were ‘small’ under the NDPS Act.
“The court, in such cases, is first required to ascertain whether there is enough material on record to prima facie infer that the applicants (Aryan Khan, Merchant and Dhamecha) have hatched a conspiracy and that the prosecution was justified in invoking provisions of section 29 (criminal conspiracy) of the NDPS Act,” the 14-page order said.
The detailed reasoned order has been given 23 days after the court delivered the operative order that granted Khan, Merchant and Dhamecha bail.
As per the bail conditions imposed by the high court, Aryann is required to appear before the NCB office in south Mumbai every Friday to mark his presence and shall not indulge in similar offences or tamper with evidence in the case. Aryan Khan, Merchant and Dhamecha have also been directed to not leave the country without permission from the trial court and to inform the NCB if they intend to leave Mumbai.
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