MUMBAI: An accused in the cruise drugs case, Arbaaz Merchant told the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) that in 2018 he had tried to complain to police about peddlers from a Khar chawl who were selling “laced drugs” that made “children ill” and caused “organ damage.” Merchant (26), a friend of Aryan Khan who has been let off in the case, alleged that he was “confident” people at “Murugan Chall” had a secret partnership with cops from the local police station as they did not act on his complaints.
Six grams of charas were allegedly seized from Merchant during the NCB raid on the cruise liner. Out on bail, Merchant is among the 14 accused named in the chargesheet submitted by the NCB’s SIT on Friday.
In his alleged statement to an NCB team in November 2021 on his reasons for taking the cruise, Aryan allegedly replied, “I had not left my home for a long time due to work and lockdown. I wanted to go party with my friends and have a good time.” In the same statement, when asked to explain a reference allegedly to “cocaine” in a WhatsApp chat on a group titled ‘Title Undecided’, Aryan allegedly replied, “Yes I jokingly said to the members that I will bring cocaine and get them f****d by the NCB.”
In 2020, the Supreme Court had held that statements given to NCB officers by a suspect alone could not be used as a confessional statement in a trial or to convict an accused under the NDPS Act. No drugs were recovered from him nor did he undergo a medical test, but Aryan was arrested on suspicion a day later and he spent 27 days in custody before being let out on bail.
The chargesheet also contains statements of controversial panch witness Kiran Gosavi, who when asked why he had taken a selfie with Aryan on October 2 that went viral, explained, “I took one selfie with him to show it to my friends…” Gosavi’s statement was recorded in jail when he was lodged in a criminal case. When asked about a video where Gosavi was allegedly seen sitting in the NCB office with Aryan talking on the phone that he (Gosavi) was holding in his hand, he answered, “ I don’t want to say anything on this because I have already been crucified because of this video, everywhere. It was just a normal call from my friend who just wanted to hear Aryan Khan’s voice.”
He also explained that when rushing to the NCB’s office later that night, he held Aryan’s hands to avoid the media. Gosavi said he has also offered his friend’s car to NCB as the agency didn’t have enough cars to ferry all those detained.
