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After being in NCB's custody for over 48 hours, the Esplanade Court in Mumbai today sat up to hear on the extension of custody of Aryan Khan and 7 others.
As the court assembles, the defendants' counsels were in tow. The ASG Anil Singh joined the hearing a little late.
Appearing for NCB, its counsel Advait Sethna first pleaded to hear the custodial extension of Aachit Kumar - who has been the NCB's main string in today's hearing. The NCB seems to have fastened the fate of Aryan Khan and Co to the string named Aachit Kumar. The prosecution counsel pulled the Aachit string to tie up Aryan Khan's fate.
Aachit And Aryan Link
The submissions made by ASG before the magistrate RM Nirlekar are "It is for Aryan Khan, we could lay hands on Aachit Kumar. Had Aryan Khan, not in our custody, this could not have been possible."
Note: NCB seized 2.6 gms Ganja from Aachit.
Adding legal weight to his argument, ASG quoted an SC judgement and said, "I am investigating the main case, and from the main case, I am getting to know more persons. Recovery is not important, but knowledge is important."
Stretching his argument further, ASG said, "Yesterday we arrested Aachit Kumar, today we arrested a foreign national and apprehended another person."
"I cannot segregate one person from another. It cannot be done. The purpose of the NDPS Act is to stop the gang forever." The ASG submits to the court that we want to track the main culprit, and their custody is essential to nab the main player.
Why Court Denied NCB Custody?
The Mumbai court magistrate after going through the remand application has made the following observation to deny the NCB custody.
The order reads, "The remand application states that the nexus has not been established. No progress is shown, no recovery is effected and whatever is alleged is seized. In these circumstances, it is not fit for further remand, but only JC."
The court invoked section 437 of the Criminal Procedure Code. This section governs granting bail to the accused in non-bailable offences.
Some Observations:
- Simply remanding the accused to NCB custody without reason is cogent ground for violating liberty.
- The accused statement recorded on October 3, led to Aachit's arrest ... And he was arrested on October 6, 2021
- I do not want to go into the aspect as to why the officer needs so much time for arresting an accused. Considering the time of Aachit arrest, when Aryan and Aachit were in NCB custody, till production, nothing was investigated.
Will Aryan Khan Get Bail?
The learned court has invoked section 437 of CrPC today. And the Court will be hearing the bail application on Friday. As the section holds the fulcrum in this case, let's take a glance at the section.
Clause 1: When any person accused of or suspected of, the commission of any non- bailable offence is arrested or detained without warrant by an officer in charge of a police station or appears or is brought before a Court other than the High Court or Court of Session, he may be released on bail.
This clause doesn't fit in the present case. As NCB has followed all due process.
Clause 2: If the Court at any stage of the investigation, inquiry or trial, as the case may be, feels that there are not reasonable grounds for believing that the accused has committed a non- bailable offence, but that there are sufficient grounds for further inquiry into his guilt
(a) The accused shall, subject to the provisions of section 446A and pending such inquiry, be released on bail
(b) It states that the mere fact that an accused person may be required for being identified by witnesses during investigation shall not be sufficient ground for refusing to grant bail if he is otherwise entitled to be released on bail and gives an undertaking that he shall comply with such directions as may be given by the Court.
The Bottomline
However, all eyes are on ASG Anil Singh as he will be filing a detailed reply to the court as why the bail shouldn't be granted. Despite all efforts, Aryan Khan couldn't get interim bail today.
