MUMBAI: Holding that there’s sufficient material and that all the chemical analysis reports were positive, a special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act court on Friday took cognisance of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) chargesheet submitted against 14 accused in the cruise drugs bust case. The court has asked the accused to remain present before it on July 12. Two of the 14 are still in jail.
In the chargesheet submitted on May 27, the NCB dropped charges against 6 accused, including actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan. It discharged them on grounds of “lack of sufficient evidence”.
Aryan, friend Arbaaz Merchant and cruise guest Munmun Dhamecha were among the first to be arrested on October 3. They were granted bail by the Bombay high court at the end of the month. No drugs were found on Aryan. Merchant and Dhamecha are among those chargesheeted.
Twenty accused were named in the FIR. Alleged drug peddlers Abdul Kadar and Nigerian national Chinedu Igwe are the only two accused in jail.
Among the others who will continue to face legal proceedings in the case are Vikrant Chhokar (33), a Nodia-based alleged supplier arrested from the International Cruise Terminal. The NCB had alleged that Chhokar was found in possession of 5 gram of MD (mephedrone), 10gm of cocaine and 10gm of charas. Nupur Satija (29), a Gurgaon-based guest on the cruise, was arrested on October 3 and allegedly ecstasy tablets (MDMA) totalling 1.59gm were seized from the room occupied by her. Also named in the chargesheet was Aachit Kumar (22), a student from London who was in the city. He was arrested on October 6 on the basis of Aryan Khan’s alleged statement and 2.6gm of ganja was allegedly seized from his home. The prosecution alleged he was supplier to Aryan Khan and Arbaaz Merchant.
Last November, the SIT took over the probe from the Mumbai unit of the NCB, then headed by Sameer Wankhede.
The NCB had said the chemical analysis reports of all 17 samples of substances allegedly recovered during the probe prove they are narcotics.
