Vikrant Shekhawat : Oct 08, 2021, 07:39 AM
New Delhi: The anti-drugs agency's allegations that WhatsApp chats found in the phone of actor Shah Rukh Khan's son, Aryan Khan, point to involvement of an international supplier network is far from the truth, the 23-year-old's lawyer Satish Maneshinde said today while arguing for bail in a Mumbai court.The Narcotics Control Bureau or NCB told the court today that it needs to keep Aryan Khan in custody so that it can cross-examine him in detail along with Achit Kumar who, it claims, supplied drugs to Aryan Khan. But it has had plenty of time to do so already, argued Aryan Khan's lawyer."How long does it take them to download the chats? The chats are about football, and football does not contain any drugs," Mr Maneshinde told the court.Aryan Khan was arrested on Saturday after a raid on a cruise ship that was to travel from Mumbai to Goa. A total of 16 people have been arrested so far including those that helped organize the event.The court denied extension of custody and sent Aryan Khan and the other accused to judicial custody. The bail hearing is at 11 am tomorrow.Among those arrested is Arbaaz Merchant, who is 26 years old and is a friend of Aryan Khan. "Aryan Khan and my son are being made scapegoats," Aslam Merchant, his father, told NDTV today.Shah Rukh Khan has not commented so far on the investigation or through his lawyers or other representatives.The NCB's focus on investigation is known to include WhatsApp chat records of accused in drugs bust cases. The agency had also relied on some WhatsApp chats in a drugs case against actor Rhea Chakraborty last year, after the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.