Bail pleas of Aryan, 2 others rejected on grounds of ‘jurisdiction of court'

CRUISE DRUG CASE: WHAT THE COURT SAID

- Swati Deshpande

Additional chief metropolitan magistrate R M Nerlikar rejects bail pleas of Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha on grounds of maintainability and jurisdiction of court

Reasoned text of order expected on Saturday

Aryan (in pic), 5 others taken to Arthur Rd jail; 2 to Byculla women’s jail

Mumbai: A magistrate court on Friday rejected Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan’s plea for bail on grounds of maintainability and jurisdiction of court. It rejected bail pleas of his friend Arbaaz Merchant, 26, and Munmun Dhamecha, 28, as well.

The court only pronounced the operative part of the order, and reasons will follow later as it was the end of the court day and dictation would take long. Khan’s counsel Satish Maneshinde said in court that it was fine if the operative part was delivered because if necessary, they would ready themselves to approach sessions court. Later, he declined to comment. But with a weekend ahead, it will be two nights in jail before a fresh bail plea gets taken up for hearing in sessions court.

All three were arrested on October 3 following a raid by the Narcotics Control Bureau on a cruise ship which led to seizure of drugs. Maneshinde said with “not even an ounce” of contraband found on him, he ought not to be denied bail and with alleged chats on his phone leading up to no recovery, he cannot be kept in custody for a minute.