India / 2 accused in cruise drugs case granted bail by special court, 1st to get bail in the case

Mumbai: A special NDPS court on Tuesday granted bail to Manish Rajgaria and Avin Sahu, two accused arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) after raid on a cruise ship off the coast of Mumbai on October 2. They are the first to be granted bail in the case.

Actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan too has been arrested in the same case, but his multiple bail petitions have been rejected. The 23-year-old has now moved the Bombay high court, which today adjourned the hearing of his bail plea till Wednesday.

Rajgaria, who was invited as a guest on the cruise ship, was arrested with a small quantity of hydroponic weed multi-strain cannabis. Sahu was arrested on the consumption charges, according to the NCB. They were in NCB custody since their arrest on October 5.

The agency said that the duo belongs to Odisha's Rourkela.

During the hearing of Rajgaria's bail petition earlier, his lawyer Taraq Sayed told the NDPS court that his client was arrested with alleged recovery of 2.4 grams of ganja, "a nano-small quantity". He had also argued that 'panchnama' doesn't mention from where the contraband was recovered.

Sahu's lawyer Sana Khan claimed nothing has been recovered from her client. The only allegation against Sahu was that he consumed ganja twice while on the cruise, she said.

The NCB had said after the raids that they seized 13 grams of cocaine, five grams of MD, 21 grams of charas and 22 pills of ecstasy and ₹1.33 lakh from the Goa-bound ship.

The NCB has so far arrested 20 people in connection with the drug bust case. It has also told the sessions and special NDPS court that this drug bust has links to international racket and the agency is trying to unearth the conspiracy.