10 Reasons Why NCB SIT Wants More Time To Investigate Aryan Khan's Case

"The underlying purpose of this Application is to ensure fair, transparent, complete, proper and thorough investigation, in order to get to the roots of the matter and place clear picture of the roles played by the accused persons before the Hon'ble Court. Thus, allowing such Application becomes necessary and expedient in the interest of justice."

The agency further cited lack of cooperation from the 20 accused for the delay in investigation, including giving wrong passwords.

On Tuesday, the court adjourned the plea for hearing on Wednesday after Advocates Kushal Mor and Apoorv Srivastava for one of the two accused still in custody sought time to file a detailed reply.

One of the two remaining accused in prison, alleged peddler Abdul Kadar Shaikh (30), told the court that his "mental, social and financial health" has suffered greatly due to the case."It is really difficult for me to cope with the situation. I'm the only earning member of my family. They(NCB) can seek extension for as long as they want, but let me get out of jail," Shaikh, in person, told the court." It is affecting me badly… evidence is such that nothing can be tampered," he added.

Reasons are as follows:

1.Recording to the statement of KP Gosavi, the independent panch witness to the alleged recovery of drugs from 8 accused, is not complete. He is in Judicial Custody.

2.A 2^nd panch witness i.e. Prabhakar Sail has turned hostile and filed an affidavit in court asking for his version to be taken on record. KG Gosavi's examination is imperative.

3.Accused are from different field and walks of life like Maharashtra, Odisha, Goa, Rajasthan Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi etc.

4.Many accused couldn't turn up in Delhi for investigation due to Covid-19.

5.Scanning voluminous data evidence in the form of chats is yet to be done.

6.CFSL, Pune chemical examination reports of all the 17 samples sent for chemical examination have been duly received on 12.03.2022 which proved that all the contraband recovered are drugs.

7.Some highly influential accused persons and have incriminating chats with foreign nationals who are located outside India also. Examination is underway.

8.Accused have given wrong passwords of mobile/laptop/tablets which are in the custody of NCB, which is causing hurdles in extraction and forensic examination of the same is getting delayed.

9.Details of foreign national from their respective countries is yet to be received.

10.Most of the accused are exercising their right to remain silent.

iv. So far, statements of 69 witnesses have been recorded till date. While 10 independent witnesses have been examined, statements of 4 are still left.

"Investigation of people not accused is going on. Partly digital evidence extracted. Analysis of extracted digital data (arounc 8000+ pages) is underway."

Background

On October 3, 2021, the NCB arrested Aryan Khan along with several others following an alleged drug bust where the Cordelia Cruise Ship was docked. While nothing was recovered from Khan, his friend Arbaaz Merchant was allegedly found in possession of 6 gms of charas. Another 5gms of hashish was reportedly retrieved from one Munmun Dhamecha.

They were booked under Sections 8(c), 20(b), 27, 28, 29 and 35 under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

Subsequently, other guests on the ship as well as alleged drug peddlers were arrested in the case.

The Bombay High Court said in its order granting bail to Khan and the other two on October 28, 2021, that prima facie there was no evidence on record to infer that Aryan Khan and his friend Arbaaz Merchant conspired to commit offences under the NDPS Act.

It may be noted that earlier, Prabhakar Sail, a panch witness in the case, had made startling allegations about extortion and pay-offs involving KP Gosavi (a private person at the NCB raid whose picture with Aryan Khan went viral even before he was formally arrested), the investigating officer and then NCB Mumbai Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede and others, in a notarized affidavit.

As a result of these allegations the case is now being investigated by a Special Investigation Team of the NCB in Delhi.