Mumbai, Oct 3 (PTI) The NCB on Sunday said it had evidence to show the existence of a nexus between three persons it had arrested, including Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan, and suppliers and peddlers of drugs, in connection with the seizure of banned drugs onboard a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast.

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A special holiday court of additional metropolitan magistrate R K Rajebhosale on Sunday remanded Aryan Khan, Munmun Dhamecha and Arbaaz Merchant to the custody of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) till October 4.

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The trio, including Aryan Khan, was arrested on Sunday evening and produced before the special holiday court.

Aryan Khan and seven others were detained late Saturday night by NCB sleuths after they raided the cruise ship on its way from Mumbai to Goa.

While seeking the custody of Aryan Khan, Dhamecha and Merchant, the NCB said there was evidence to show a nexus between the arrested persons and suppliers and peddlers of drugs and banned narcotic substances regularly.

“Prima facie investigation conducted by the NCB reveals that there is incriminating material in the form of WhatsApp chats and so on that clearly shows the nexus with the arrested accused (Aryan Khan and two others) with suppliers and peddlers on a regular basis,” the NCB said in its remand note.

NCB's advocate Advait Sethna sought custody of the accused for two days on the ground that the investigation is at a nascent stage and more raids are being carried out to apprehend the supplier of drugs.

“The NCB has apprehended one more person in the supply chain. Thus, NCB custody of these accused is imperative for proper investigation to unearth their links and nexus,” the remand note said adding the arrested accused need to be confronted with each other so as to establish the link.

The NCB further said the three arrested accused have recorded their statements voluntarily.

“There are five more connected persons who are under investigation and are likely to be produced before the court later. Eight persons were apprehended on the cruise by the NCB team and are under investigation for suspicious transactions constituting offences under the NDPS Act,” the note said.

Aryan Khan's advocate Satish Maneshinde argued that his client was invited to the event being held on the cruise by the organisers.

“No incriminating material has been recovered from him (Aryan Khan). There is no possession or evidence of consumption,” he said.

Maneshinde said he would be filing an application seeking bail for Aryan Khan on Monday.

“Although the sections under which Aryan Khan has been booked are all bailable offences, I am willing to settle for one day's NCB custody so that we can file for bail before the regular court,” Maneshinde said.

Aryan Khan has been booked under sections 27 (punishment for consumption of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance), 8C (produce, manufacture, possess, sell or purchase of drugs) and other relevant provisions of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS).

As per the arrest memo of the NCB, 13 grams of cocaine, five gram of MD, 21 grams of charas and 22 pills of Ecstasy and Rs 1.33 lakh was seized after the raid.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)