By Express News Service
MUMBAI: There is no evidence of any conspiracy between Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha to commit drug-related offences and there is also nothing objectionable in the WhatsApp conversations between them, the Bombay High Court said in its bail order released on Saturday.
The high court uploaded the detailed bail order in the drug case and stated that the trio did not conspire to commit the offence under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. The court on October 28 had granted bail to all the three accused.
“Prima facie there is no evidence against Aryan Khan and the other two accused. The court also rejects the hatching the conspiracy plan claimed by the NCB by this trio,” the order stated.
The court rejected the NCB’s argument that since Section 29 of the NDPS Act pertaining to conspiracy was applicable, rigours for bail under Section 37 of the NDPS Act would apply and the cumulative quantity recovered should be considered.
The court noted that no drug was found in Aryan’s possession while the quantity recovered from Arbaz and Munmun were “small” quantities under the NDPS Act. In such a scenario, in order to invoke offence of conspiracy against the accused, there has to be positive evidence about an agreement to do an unlawful act or to do lawful act by unlawful means and such agreement must precede with meeting of minds, the court said.
But there was no such material in the instant case, the court held. As per the presented material, it showed that Aryan and Arbaz were travelling together while Munmum had an independent travel plan. The court observed that merely because Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha were travelling in the same cruise, that by itself cannot be a foundation for the charge of conspiracy.
The accused were not even subject to a medical examination to determine whether at relevant time they had consumed drugs. The court also stated that the confession statement of the accused presented by the NCB could not be cited as evidence considering the Supreme Court observations in the Tofan Singh versus State of Tamil Nadu.
Therefore, the NCB claim of the accused admitting their crime must be rejected. Aryan was taken into custody by the NCB on October 2 after the agency raided a cruise ship en route to Goa from Mumbai. He was arrested from the terminal to the cruise.
