No evidence of a conspiracy has been found against Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant, and Munmun Dhamecha to commit drug-related offences, said the Bombay High Court in an order released today.
The Court said that nothing objectionable was found in WhatsApp conversations between them.
“There is hardly any positive evidence on record to convince this Court that all the accused persons with common intention agreed to commit unlawful act,” the court said while rejecting the Narcotics Control Bureau’s (NCB) argument that the case of all the accused to be considered together.
“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 against them,” the court said.
The High Court order also said that the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) cannot rely on the alleged confessional statements recorded by the investigating officer as they are not binding. Aryan Khan, the son of superstar Shah Rukh Khan, was granted bail three weeks after his arrest in the drugs-on-cruise case. He was taken into custody on October 3, hours after drug raids on a cruise ship party by the NCB.
