Mumbai: Court Allows Aryan Khan’s Plea Seeking Return of His Passport

Shah Rukh Khan’s son was arrested in October last year in a high-profile drugs case. However, in its chargesheet filed in May, the NCB did not name Aryan as an accused.

Mumbai: A special court in Mumbai on Wednesday allowed the plea of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan, who has got a clean chit from the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in last year’s ‘drugs-on-cruise’ case, seeking the return of his passport.

Aryan Khan had submitted his passport before the court as part of his bail conditions. He was arrested in October last year in the high-profile drugs case. However, in its chargesheet filed in May, the probe agency did not name him as an accused.

The NCB let off Aryan Khan and five others due to a “lack of sufficient evidence”.

On June 30, Khan moved an application before the special court hearing cases related to the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act through his lawyers Amit Desai and Rahul Agarwal of Desai Desai Carrimjee and Mulla, a law firm, seeking the return of his passport, citing the chargesheet that did not name him.

The anti-drug agency, in its response to the actor’s plea, said it has no objection to returning his passport.

The special court judge, V.V. Patil, then allowed Aryan’s plea to take his passport back.

The 24-year-old was arrested by the NCB on October 3 last year, following a raid on a cruise ship off the coast of Mumbai.

Aryan Khan had spent over 20 days in prison before being granted bail by the Bombay high court.

Cruise Drugs Case: PIL in HC Seeks To Restrain Nawab Malik From Making Comments Against NCB

Citing some of Malik’s recent tweets, the PIL says the NCP minister has been tweeting and making claims against the NCB and its officer Sameer Wankhede to ‘demoralise’ them.

Mumbai: A city resident has filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Bombay high court, seeking directions to Maharashtra minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik to refrain from making any comments against the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), in light of the drugs case in which actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan is an accused.

The PIL was filed on Tuesday by one Kausar Ali, who claims to be a priest and a person working for the rehabilitation of drug addicts.

Ali has urged the high court to direct Malik not to make any comments against the NCB or any other investigating agency associated with the Aryan Khan case and officers of such agencies, saying it will demoralise the probe agencies and encourage drug abuse among citizens.

Citing some of Malik’s recent tweets, the PIL says the minister has been tweeting and making claims against the NCB and its officer Sameer Wankhede to “demoralise” them.

The plea claims that the NCB, under the supervision of Wankhede, has proven to be the “most effective” agency in the recent past.

The high court is yet to assign a date for hearing the PIL.

Watch | Was Aryan Khan Framed? Spate of Allegations Against NCB Official Sameer Wankhade

Aryan Khan (23) was arrested on October 3 along with his friend Arbaaz Merchant, fashion model Dhamecha and some others by the NCB, after it raided a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast and claimed to have seized drugs onboard.

While Aryan Khan and Merchant are now lodged at the Arthur Road prison, Dhamecha is at the Byculla women’s prison.

A special court for NDPS cases had refused to grant them bail following which they moved the high court.

Malik has repeatedly termed the cruise drugs case as “fake” and levelled various allegations against Wankhede, including illegal phone tapping.

Wankhede has refuted the allegations and denied any wrong-doing.

(PTI) 

NCP’s Nawab Malik Accuses Sameer Wankhede of Illegally Tapping Phones, Says an ‘Extortion Racket’ Is Running In The NCB

Nawab Malik said he is forwarding a letter written by someone in NCB about the various illegal activities of Wankhede to the agency’s DG, S.N. Pradhan.

Mumbai: Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik on Tuesday accused NCB official Sameer Wankhede of illegal phone tapping and announced that he will hand over a letter on the official’s misdeeds’ to the agency head.

“Sameer Wankhede through two persons in Mumbai and Thane is illegally intercepting the mobile phones of some people,” said Malik, who has been targeting Wankhede after his son-in-law’s arrest.

Malik also claimed that Wankhede had sought the Call Detail Record (CDR) of his family member from the police.

Wankhede in his affidavit submitted to a Mumbai court on Monday claimed he was under a “lurking threat of arrest as it does not suit some vested interests for conducting an honest and impartial investigation”.

The official had also claimed that he was being personally targeted by a well-known political figure (Malik), and the only reason he can fathom is that the NCB had arrested “this person’s son-in-law Sameer Khan”.

Malik said he is forwarding a letter written by someone in NCB about the various illegal activities of Wankhede’ to the agency’s Director-General (DG) S N Pradhan.

The NCP minister said the NCB should investigate the 26 allegations in the letter claiming an extortion racket’ being run within the anti-drugs agency.

“As a responsible citizen I will be forwarding this letter to DG Narcotics requesting him to include this letter in the investigation being conducted on Sameer Wankhede,” the minister tweeted.

Malik on Monday claimed that Sameer Wankhede is a Muslim by birth and his real name is ‘Sameer Dawood Wankhede’.

The minister had released what he claimed the birth certificate of Sameer Wankhede and alleged that the latter had forged documents.

However, the NCB official’s father later said his name is Dnyandev and not Dawood, as claimed by Malik.

On Tuesday, speaking to reporters here, Malik said, “I have all the authentic documents to prove that Sameer Wankhede was born into a Muslim family, but he forged his identity and sought a job under the Scheduled Caste category. As per the law, Dalits who are converted to Islam do not get the quota privilege, thus Sameer Wankhede has denied the job opportunity to a genuine person from the Schedule Caste.

“A legal probe into the matter will be initiated soon,” the minister said.

Also Read: Mumbai: Lawyer Approaches Police Seeking FIR Against Wankhede, 5 Others Over ‘Extortion Bid’

On Sameer Wankhede’s father saying his name is not Dawood, Malik said it is true that the NCB official’s father Dnyandev Wankhede was born into a Dalit family in Washim district (earlier Akola) and he later joined state Excise department.

“But, he married a Muslim woman here in Mumbai by converting himself to Islam and accepted the name Dawood. He has two children. However, Dnyandev Wankhede had an afterthought and he used his father’s certificate to obtain all the documents in the name of Dnyandev Wankhede so that his children would benefit,” the minister claimed.

Malik said if he has produced fake documents, Dnyandev Wankhede should show the birth certificate of Sameer Wankhede and prove his side.

“I am challenging Dnyandev Wankhede to produce the caste certificate of his son,” he said.

Malik further stated that after 26 January 1950, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar had said although he was born as Hindu, he would not die as a Hindu.

“The then Union government immediately issued a presidential order stating that reservation benefits in government jobs would be applicable to Dalits from Hindu religion only,” he said.

“Subsequently, the Kabir and Sikh sects got exempted from the order. The last change was brought in by late PM V P Singh, who exempted Dalits converted to Buddhism. However, the Indian law does not offer similar quota benefits to the SC persons converted to Islam or Christianity, the minister said.

Thus, Dnyandev Wankhede, who “became Dawood by accepting Islam” cannot seek the quota benefits, Malik said.

“It is the sole reason why I am calling his documents bogus,” he said.

He alleged that Sameer Wankhede and some of his colleagues were involved into some “extortion racket”.

“Their recent visit to Maldives was for the same reason. I believe the amount was as high as Rs 1,000 crore,” the minister claimed.

(PTI)

Aryan Khan Says NCB ‘Misinterpreted’ WhatsApp Chats to Implicate Him in Drugs Case

In his appeal in the HC against the special court order, Aryan Khan said the Narcotics Control Bureau’s (NCB) “interpretation and misinterpretation” of the WhatsApp chats collected from his mobile phone was “wrong and unjustified”.

Mumbai: Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, in his plea in the Bombay high court seeking bail, has said that the NCB was “misinterpreting” his WhatsApp chats to implicate him in the case of seizure of banned drugs aboard a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast earlier this month.

Aryan Khan, currently in jail, on Wednesday moved the HC after a special court rejected his application for bail. The HC will hear his bail plea on October 26.

In his appeal in the HC against the special court order, Aryan Khan said the Narcotics Control Bureau’s (NCB) “interpretation and misinterpretation” of the WhatsApp chats collected from his mobile phone was “wrong and unjustified”.

Also Read: Aryan Khan Seemed To Be Indulging in Drug Activities Regularly: Court Says, Denying Bail

The 23-year-old claimed no contraband was recovered from him after the NCB raided the ship and maintained he has no connection with any of the other accused in the case except Arbaaz Merchant and Aachit Kumar.

So far, the anti-drugs agency has arrested as many as 20 people in connection with the case.

The appeal further said the WhatsApp chats that are being relied upon by the NCB are “ex-facie (on the face of it) of a period prior to the incident”.

“By no stretch of imagination can those purported messages be linked to any conspiracy for which the secret information was received,” it said.

“The interpretation of the WhatsApp messages is that of the investigating officer and such interpretation is unjustified and wrong,” the appeal said.

Aryan Khan also questioned the special court’s contention, while refusing him bail, that since he is an influential person he may tamper with evidence in the case if released from custody.

“There is no presumption in law that merely because a person is influential, there is likelihood of him tampering with the evidence,” the appeal said.

Aryan Khan was arrested on October 3 by the NCB along with his friend Arbaaz Merchant (26) and fashion model Munmun Dhamecha (28). The trio is presently in judicial custody. While Aryan Khan and Merchant are lodged at the Arthur Road prison in central Mumbai, Dhamecha is at the Byculla women’s prison.

A special court, designated to hear cases related to the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS), refused to grant them bail noting that “they were part of the conspiracy”.

The lower court had said Aryan Khan had a “nexus with drug peddlers and suppliers and had indulged in illicit drug activities on a regular basis”.

(PTI)

Watch | No Bail Again for Ayan Khan, NCB Claims He Is Linked to ‘International Drug Network’

The Wire’s Arfa Khanum Sherwani discusses this issue in detail in this video.

A special NDPS court in Mumbai said that it would give its orders on bail applications filed by Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, and two others, on October 20 in the alleged seizure of drugs from a cruise ship off Mumbai. The Wire‘s Arfa Khanum Sherwani discusses this issue in detail in this video.