Bollywood Superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s Son Was Invited To Cruise Ship As ‘VVIP Guest’ To ‘Add Glamour’, Lawyer Tells Court!

Was Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, set up in the over-hyped arrest over drugs at the party boat? If you look closely at Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the involvement of BJP goons, it looks clearly like a set up of a star-kid to divert attention from a massive drug haul at a port used by Indian conglomerates like Adani group. A closer look at the Aryan arrest shows heavy-handed tactics of NCB. And the involvement of senior BJP leaders clearly smells of a set up. But even as the case is progressing further, there are some troubling layers, when unearthed, raise eyebrows. The first thing is how was the contraband taken to the luxury ship which had 1300 passengers but only Aryan and high-end party guests were arrested? A bald man, who was later identified as an alleged Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kiran Gosavi, clicked a picture with the starkid on the ship deck triggering a row that BJP goons were involved in the October 2 raid conducted by the NCB on the luxury ship Cordelia Cruise. Another BJP leader Manish Bhanushali was seen hauling out some of the accused, including Aryan and Arbaaz Merchant. How did a private person who is a BJP party insider hand over the accused? -- another big unanswered question.

By DESIBUZZCanada Staff With News Files

MUMBAI – Was Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, set up in the over-hyped arrest over drugs at the party boat? If you look closely at Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the involvement of BJP goons, it looks clearly like a set up of a star-kid to divert attention from a massive drug haul at a port used by Indian conglomerates like Adani group.

The junior Khan was invited to the Goa-bound cruise ship from where drugs were allegedly seized to "add glamour", and he had no connection with its organisers, his lawyer told a court here on Thursday.

Khan and seven other accused in the case were remanded in 14-day judicial custody by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate R M Nerlikar, who rejected the Narcotics Control Bureau's plea for their further custody for interrogation.

A closer look at the Aryan arrest shows heavy-handed tactics of NCB. And the involvement of senior BJP leaders clearly smells of a set up.

The high-profile NCB bust in the financial capital of the country has left a series of difficult conundrums for the public to understand, further deepening the mystery.

The NCB has so far arrested around 18 people in the drugs case, including Aryan who has been sent to 14 days of judicial custody.

But even as the case is progressing further, there are some troubling layers, when unearthed, raise eyebrows. The first thing is how was the contraband taken to the luxury ship which had 1300 passengers but only Aryan and high-end party guests were arrested?

The NCB had said that during the raid, it recovered various popular party drugs like cocaine, MDMA, ecstasy, mephedrone and charas. Of all the contraband, the cocaine was 13 grams, charas 21 grams, 22 pills of MDMA and five grams MD. It is yet 'unanswered' as to how the star-kids were able to procure these drugs.

The NCB's swoop, which shook the Bollywood's core as the future potential superstar-kid of the one of the reigning top stars was involved, almost sounded unbelievable till a picture of a dazed Aryan sitting on a bench inside the agency's office in south Mumbai emerged from nowhere.

A bald man, who was later identified as an alleged Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kiran Gosavi, clicked a picture with the starkid on the ship deck triggering a row that BJP goons were involved in the October 2 raid conducted by the NCB on the luxury ship Cordelia Cruise.

Another BJP leader Manish Bhanushali was seen hauling out some of the accused, including Aryan and Arbaaz Merchant. How did a private person who is a BJP party insider hand over the accused? -- another big unanswered question.

While Aryan, along with Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha, was arrested on Sunday following a raid by the NCB on the ship off the Mumbai coast, Nupur Satija, Ishmeet Chadha, Mohak Jaiswal, Gomit Chopra and Vikrant Chhokar were arrested the following day.

Opposing the NCB's remand extension plea, Aryan Khan's lawyer Satish Maneshinde said his client was not connected with any of the other accused.

Aryan was on cruise as a "VVIP guest" and "a person connected with Bollywood wanted to add glamour to the cruise and hence invited him," the lawyer claimed.

"I (Aryan) am nowhere connected with any other person in cruise, or other arrested accused. I have no connection with the organizers or the other arrested accused," advocate Maneshinde submitted.

He, however, accepted that Aryan knew Arbaaz Merchant.

"He (Merchant) is my friend, I'm not denying that. But mere knowledge of a person is not enough to keep me in custody," the lawyer said.

As to the NCB's contention that it wanted to confront Khan and other accused with Achit Kumar, who was arrested later, Maneshinde said the agency had accessed Aryan's WhatsApp chat "where Achit (Kumar) and I have discussed football about a year back," and "football doesn't contain any drugs."

Lawyers of other accused too opposed the remand application, saying no specific role was assigned to them.

Advocate Ali Kaashif Khan, representing Munmun Dhamecha, said she was not connected to the other accused and no specific role had been assigned to her in the NCB's remand plea.

He also moved a plea seeking CCTV footage of the check-point from where she was arrested.

The NCB, seeking extension of the remand of Aryan and others, had said it wanted to confront them with Achit Kumar who was arrested on Wednesday and a foreign national arrested subsequently.

Kumar has been remanded to NCB custody till October 9.

The judge, after hearing all the submissions, rejected the NCB's plea and remanded Aryan and seven others in judicial custody.

They will, however, be kept at the NCB office till Friday as jails do not admit new prisoners without a negative Covid-19 test report.

Aryan and other accused have filed bail pleas which will be heard on Friday.

Of the eight people that were the first detained by the NCB, three -- Mohak Jaswal, Nupur Sarika and Gomit Chopra are from Delhi. Mohak and Nupur are both fashion designers, while Gomit is a hair stylist. Sources earlier confirmed to IANS that both Mohak and Nupur had come to Delhi with Gomit but still there is no further details about them. Did they go to Mumbai to attend the party or were they already residing there? It is yet to be answered.

It is being said that the luxury ship, the Cordelia Cruises, which was raided by the sleuths of NCB when it was preparing to lift anchor for a fun-filled two-night gala voyage to Goa, had around 1,300 affluent passengers on board. Were only eight of these 1,300 people, consuming or carrying drugs with them? Is NCB going to question the remaining voyagers....?

Coming back to the centre of attraction of this drug-bust, Aryan Khan, due to which this case became a high-profile case. The NCB had clearly stated that drugs were not recovered from the possession of the megastar's lad, while only six grams of charas was found in the possession of Arbaaz Merchant.

If the quantity was so low, why was the NCB demanding another four days of his custody?

Aryan's lawyer Satish Maneshinde, too, fired several questions at the drug probe agency, as the NCB said it needed custody extension so they could confront him with other accused.

On Wednesday, the NCB arrested Achit Kumar whose name popped up from WhatsApp chats.

"Why did the NCB not confront Aryan and Arbaaz with Achit yesterday only? NCB is well equipped, they have more than 100 officers," the lawyer asked, posing another question that was not answered.

"Confrontation cannot be grounds for custody," he quipped.

Last but not the least, two days ago, the NCB made four more arrests in connection with the case.

All the four arrested were employees of Namas'cray, a Delhi-based event management company that organised the 'rave party' onboard Cordelia Cruises' Empress ship.

But wait, Covid-19 pandemic is still ravaging India, which is witnessing nearly 300 fatalities every day. Then how come under pandemic-induced restrictions, such a party was allowed.