HARDLY ANY EVIDENCE TO CONVINCE THAT THE 3 ACCUSED IN THE ARYAN KHAN DRUG CASE HAD A COMMON INTENTION TO COMMIT AN UNLAWFUL ACT - BOMBAY HC ORDER

The order of the Bombay High Court, which granted bail to Aryan Khan in the cruise ship drug case, has been released by the High Court. Justice Nitin Sambre said in the order that there is no evidence to show Aryan Khan, Munmun Dhamecha, and Arbaaz Merchant for the offense of conspiracy under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. 

"This Court prima facie has not noticed any positive evidence against the Applicants." Just because the accused were on the cruise cannot be a valid ground to invoke section 29. "This Court is expected to consider the fact that there has to be the presence of basic material as evidence to substantiate the case of conspiracy."

The three accused persons were granted bail on October 28. The order was made available on the HC website today. It is observed in the order that the Court did not find any drug in Aryan Khan's possession while the drugs recovered from Merchant and Dhamecha were 'small' quantities. In order to invoke the offense of conspiracy, there has to be evidence to show an agreement to do an unlawful act and, such agreement must precede with the meeting of minds. "But there was no such material in the present case."

The Court further observed that the WhatsApp chats did not have anything objectionable, implying a conspiracy on Khan's part to commit offenses under the NDPS Act. "There is hardly any evidence to convince that the three accused had a common intention to commit an unlawful act." 

Author: Papiha Ghoshal