News Analysis India

Tag: Bombay High Court

  • SC agrees to hear Kirloskar Brothers CMD’s plea on November 25 over family feud

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear on November 25 the plea on Kirloskar Brothers Ltd’s family feud related to assets in which KBL CMD Sanjay Kirloskar has challenged the Bombay High Court order directing arbitration in the case.

    A bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana, on July 27 had ordered status quo in the matter and asked the parties involved in the case to explore the possibility of mediation.

    “This was the Kriloskar family dispute wherein the this court on July 27 had expressed views on exploring the mediation possibility and it is very sad that we have written about even appointing the mediator now we are three-four months down and mediator has been appointed,” senior advocate AM Singhvi, appearing for Sanjay Kirloskar, told the bench which also comprised justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli.

    Now, the other side has been coming out with new competing products, Singhvi said, urging to list the case. The bench said it the plea may be listed for hearing on November 25.

    Earlier, the bench had ordered status quo in the case between feuding family members of the Kriloskar group and it was also extended to the proceedings in the Pune civil court on KBL seeking damages for violation of the family deed.

    Asking the parties involved in the case to explore the possibility of mediation, the bench had issued notice on the appeal by Sanjay Kirloskar and asked them to file replies within six weeks. The top court had asked Kirloskar brothers – Sanjay and Atul with others to explore mediation to resolve the family dispute relating to the assets.

    “We both (judges) feel it is one of the reputed families and companies. We feel the issues are sorted out by mediation or arbitration which is better in the interest of the company. You go on litigating in the civil courts, you know. I don’t want to comment on the system. All the lawyers can sit together and solve a way out and if you want some external assistance we can appoint a retired judge. Why do you unnecessarily want to fight this litigation? You can have some alternative resolution. There must be some common family friends and they can mediate,” the bench had said.

    The feud over the deed of family settlement relating to the assets of the more than 130-year old Kirloskar group reached the apex court, with Sanjay Kirloskar moving the apex court against the Bombay High Court order that had relegated the dispute to arbitration.

    The appeal contended that the order of the High Court is factually and legally untenable and misconceived and it contains serious errors of fact and law and incorrect findings have been arrived at on an erroneous basis.

    “The Judge has grossly erred in referring the Deed of Family Settlement (DFS) Suit and the parties thereto, to arbitration even though certain entities/persons who are parties to the suit are not signatories of DFS, hence not signatories to the arbitration agreement,” the appeal stated.

    The Kirloskar family members had entered into the DFS in 2009.

    As per the appeal, according to the DFS, disputes relating to Kirloskar Institute of Advanced Management Studies (KIAMS) and Kirloskar Foundation (KF) are to be resolved unanimously and in case there is no unanimity, the issue is to be referred to two arbitrators — Anil Alwani and CH Naniwadekar.

    If they differ in opinion then the dispute is to be referred to the third arbitrator — Srikrishna Inamdar. DFS makes it clear however that only disputes relating to KIAMS and KF shall be referred for arbitration and not other disputes, the appeal said.

    Another DFS clause states that no one in the family will compete with any other member in business. For instance, if one brother is manufacturing pumps, the other one would not engage in the same business, it added.

    According to KBL, this clause has been violated by Rahul and Atul who have taken a stake in a pump manufacturing company, namely La Gajjar Machineries Pvt Ltd. Being aggrieved, KBL had earlier filed a case in a Pune civil court seeking Rs 750 crore damages for violation of the agreement, the appeal said.

    During the pendency of the suit in Pune court, Atul, Rahul and other respondents moved the Bombay High Court saying DFS had a clause that in case of dispute the parties can go in for Arbitration. The high court, hearing their plea, had agreed with them and ordered resolution through Arbitration.

    This order has now been challenged by Sanjay Kirloskar in the top court on the ground that only disputes relating to KIAMS and KF shall be referred for arbitration and no other disputes would be entertained by the arbitrators.

  • MSRTC suspends 542 more employees as strike continues

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) on Wednesday suspended 542 more employees across the state for joining the ongoing “illegal” strike, an official said.

    With 376 employees suspended on Tuesday, the number of staffers who have been suspended so far rose to 918. The 542 employees who were suspended are from 63 bus depots excluding regional workshops.

    The highest number of 58 employees were suspended from bus depots in the Sangli district in western Maharashtra, followed by 46 employees from Nagpur and Yawatmal districts on Wednesday, the official said.

    A section of the MSRTC employees has not been reporting for duty since October 28 seeking a merger of the cash-strapped corporation with the state government.

    The Bombay High Court had deprecated the “adamant stand” of the employees for not withdrawing their stir despite the government extending full cooperation and setting up a panel to address their merger demand.

    On Wednesday, bus operations at all 250 depots of the MSRTC remained shut due to the strike, officials said.

  • Nearly all MSRTC depots shut as strike enters 13th day despite HC rap; 376 employees suspended

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Bus operations at 247 of the 250 depots of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation remained suspended on Tuesday as the MSRTC employees continued their strike on the 13th day over the demand for a merger of the corporation with the state government despite the High Court expressing displeasure over the protest and the state government appealing them to resume their duty.

    Lakhs of passengers were facing hardships as buses of the state-run corporation remained off roads and they were now dependent on private vehicles for travelling.

    As the employees refused to budge even after the intervention by the Bombay High Court and the state government set up a high-level panel to address the demands, the MSRTC has suspended 376 employees across the state for allegedly instigating others to join the stir, officials said.

    The move to suspend the employees came after the high court deprecated their “adamant stand” of not withdrawing their stir despite the government extending full cooperation and setting up a panel to address their merger demand.

    Earlier in the day, Maharashtra Transport Minister Anil Parab had said a contempt petition was being filed over the ongoing strike.

    A section of the MSRTC employees has not been reporting for duty since October 28 seeking a merger of the cash-strapped corporation with the state government.

    In the wake of the strike, the Maharashtra government has already permitted private buses, school buses, goods vehicles and contract carriage buses to ferry passengers from Monday evening.

    An official of MSRTC said only three depots – Gargoti and Kagal in the Kolhapur region and Igatpuri depot in the Nashik region – were functional on Tuesday.

    The Kagal depot was operating partially.

    The MSRTC employees intensified the agitation from Sunday after the Diwali festival concluded.

    Meanwhile, the striking employees invited the wrath of the HC for not falling in line.

    A vacation bench of Justices S J Kathawalla and S P Tavade in the order made available late Monday night said the Maharashtra government complied with everything that the MSRTC workers had demanded withdrawing their strike/agitation.

    “We do not understand why the employees of the MSRTC have now backed out from what they wanted the government to consider,” the bench said, adding the state government has cooperated fully concerning the demand of the MSRTC workers.

    Advocate Gunaratan Sadavarte, appearing for the MSRTC workers, however, told the high court on Monday evening that the government resolution (GR) was not in line with the one issued in October 2020 in the case of reservations pertaining to the promotion of employees from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe categories.

    Sadavarte said several employees of the MSRTC have committed suicide and some of them in their suicide notes blamed the state chief minister for the same.

    He said the workers were hence, not willing to withdraw their strike.

    The MSRTC is one of the biggest state transport corporations in the country with a fleet of more than 16,000 buses and around 93,000 employees, including drivers and conductors.

    The corporation used to ferry over 65 lakh passengers daily before the coronavirus outbreak last year.

    Meanwhile, Parab said an Industrial Court had earlier declared the strike illegal and later the Bombay High Court too declared the stir as illegal when some other unions gave the call.

    “The high court, in its order, had dubbed the unions’ stand as adamant. Despite this, the strike is on. When yesterday we brought this to the notice of the HC, it suggested that you can file a contempt petition. Hence the MSRTC is filing a contempt petition,” Parab, who is chairman of MSRTC, told reporters.

    The HC is likely to hear the contempt of court plea on Wednesday, he added.

    “From our side, we have done everything that was to be done,” he said, adding that decision about the demand of the merger of the MSRTC will be taken by the committee set up on the directive of the HC.

    Appealing to unions to call off strike, Parab said MSRTC is under a huge financial burden.

    “In the last two years of COVID-19 pandemic, the situation has further worsened. Currently, the cumulative loss is Rs 12,000 crore,” he said, adding that the government has fulfilled all the demands of the unions except salary increment, and he had assured that it would be resolved after Diwali.

    The merger decision cannot be taken in one day, he added.

    Meanwhile, an official said the employees who were suspended are posted in 45 bus depots of the MSRTC.

    The highest number of 58 employees each were suspended from Sangli and Nanded divisions, followed by 57 from the Yavatmal division, the official added.

    As the MSRTC buses remained off roads, passengers at some places complained that they were being fleeced by private bus operators.

    On Tuesday night, private bus operators appealed to their members to not overcharge the passengers and give them better service.

  • Sameer Wankhede father’s defamation suit an attempt to hide illegalities: Nawab Malik to Bombay HC

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik on Tuesday told the Bombay High Court the defamation suit filed against him by Dhyandev Wankhede, father of NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede, was only an attempt to cover-up the “illegalities” committed by the IRS officer and claimed none of his statements against them was false.

    Malik submitted an affidavit in the HC in response to the defamation suit filed by Dhyandev Wankhede, seeking damages to the tune of Rs 1.25 crore and also an order restraining the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader from making any false or incorrect statements against the Wankhede family that would defame or harm their reputation.

    However, the minister in his affidavit said that none of the statements made by him was incorrect and that the evidence produced by him has in fact helped the government machinery take corrective steps against Sameer Wankhede, who had been handling some high-profile drugs case till recently, including the one in which Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan is an accused.

    “Sameer Wankhede is facing vigilance inquiry and the Director of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has transferred a total of six cases from its Mumbai unit headed by zonal director Sameer Wankhede to its unit in Delhi,” the affidavit said.

    “Thus, initiation of action against Sameer Wankhede shows the authenticity of evidence produced by the defendant (Malik),” the NCP leader said, adding being a public representative he was only trying to expose the “illegalities” committed by Sameer Wankhede, a civil servant.

    “The plaintiff (Dhyandev Wankhede), by filing the present suit, is trying to curtail the freedom of expression granted to the defendant under Article 19 of the Constitution of India, which the defendant uses for public good,” the affidavit said.

    It added that the defamation suit was nothing but an attempt to cover up the “illegalities” committed by the plaintiff Dhyandev Wankhede’s son Sameer Wankhede. Malik sought dismissal of the defamation suit and said it was not maintainable as the plaintiff was seeking reliefs not just for himself but also his family members.

    The NCP leader, who has levelled a series of allegations against Sameer Wankhede – ranging from forgery to lying about his religion – said the plaintiff cannot file a representative suit on behalf of his family members. “The family members of the plaintiff have not initiated any legal proceedings controverting the evidence produced by the defendant (Malik),” the affidavit said.

    The 62-year-old politician said he has not made any false statements and has produced documentary evidence to support his claims. “In the circumstances, it is humbly submitted that the authenticity and admissibility of the evidence produced by the defendant can be decided only at the stage of trial,” the affidavit said.

    It added that Dhyandev Wankhede has failed to produce any documentary evidence in support his claims in the suit that the statements made by Malik are incorrect. “I (Malik) have produced the birth certificate of Sameer Wankhede, son of the plaintiff to show that Sameer Wankhede is a Muslim by birth and that he has secured a government job by falsely claiming to be from a Scheduled Caste,” the affidavit said.

    It added that as per the birth certificate, which has been issued by the municipal corporation, the name of Sameer Wankhede’s father is shown as Dawood Wankhede and religious identity as Muslim. “I say that if the said birth certificate issued by the municipal corporation is false then it is for the plaintiff or Sameer Wankhede to take corrective steps and pursue it with the civic authorities. If the birth certificate is false then the plaintiff should have produced the correct birth certificate,” the affidavit said.

    It further said the plaintiff has failed to show as to how the statements made by Malik were derogatory or defamatory. The minister further said several other persons, including a witness in the drugs-on-cruise case, have made allegations of attempts of extortion against Sameer Wankhede, a 2008-batch IRS officer.

    A vacation bench of Justice Madhav Jamdar is scheduled to hear the suit on Wednesday (November 10).

    The suit has sought an order declaring Malik’s statements as defamatory in nature and a permanent injunction restraining the NCP leader from publishing or making statements before the media, including his social media accounts.

    The suit has stated that the statements by Malik that Wankhede is a Muslim amounted to questioning the religious beliefs of the family by disputing they are not Hindus. It claimed that Malik’s statements caused an irreparable loss, damage, harm, prejudice to the name, character, reputation and societal image of the Wankhede family.

    The suit also sought directions to the state minister to take back all defamatory statements made by him so far and also to delete his tweets posted against the plaintiff and his family members. Sameer Wankhede had last month led a raid on a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast after which the NCB claimed to have seized drugs onboard.

    Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan and 19 others were later arrested in connection with the cruise drugs case. Some of the accused, including Aryan Khan, are currently out on bail. Malik has repeatedly termed the cruise drugs case as “fake” and levelled a string of allegations against the IRS officer, who has denied his charges.

  • MSRTC strike: Bombay HC directs Maharashtra govt to set up panel to address employees

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Monday directed the Maharashtra government to set up a special committee to address the issue raised by staffers of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) seeking to be treated as state government employees.

    The court directed the state to issue a government resolution by Monday evening for setting up the special panel.

    A section of the MSRTC employees is not reporting for duty since October 28 seeking merger of the cash-strapped corporation with the state government, according to union sources.

    The HC last week directed the corporation’s employees to refrain from going on strike and later had also rapped a union of the workers for going ahead with its strike despite the court’s order restraining it from doing so.

    On Monday, a vacation bench of Justices S J Kathawalla and S P Tavade on Monday, while hearing a plea filed by the MSRTC against the strike, noted that though in its earlier orders it had directed the workers to resume their duties, an attempt is now being made to amicably resolve the issue by requesting the state government to sympathetically consider the demand of the MSRTC workers.

    The court said the committee shall hear the parties concerned and submit its recommendations to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

    “The Chief Minister, State of Maharashtra, will consider the recommendations and submit the same to the court with his views/opinion on the said recommendations,” the bench said in its order.

    The HC said the state government shall set up a three-member committee on Monday itself, comprising additional chief secretaries of the state finance and transport departments and principal secretary of the finance department.

    “The MSRTC’s managing director shall act as a coordinator and assist the committee, but he shall have no powers in the decision-making. The committee shall hear representatives of the 28 unions and representatives of the MSRTC and thereafter, submit their decision/recommendations to the chief minister,” the court said.

    “The entire exercise shall be completed within a period of 12 weeks from today,” the HC said.

    The court said the committee shall hold its first meeting at 4 pm on Monday, and the minutes of the meeting shall be placed before the court at 5 pm.

    Advocate Gunaratan Sadavarte, appearing for the MSRTC workers, said the employees were not willing to end the strike till the government resolution is issued and the first meeting is held.

    The HC said once the minutes of meeting are submitted to the court and all the advocates concerned go through them, “the unions representing the MSRTC employees shall forthwith withdraw the strike/agitation and resume their duties”.

    Bus operations at 223 depots of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) were shut on Monday morning due to the strike of employees, officials said earlier in the day.

    Maharashtra Transport Minister Anil Parab last week said a discussion on the demand for merger of the MSRTC with the state government and other issues related to the loss-making corporation will take place after Diwali.

    The MSRTC employees last month started a “spontaneous” agitation over their various demands, including those related to salary.

    A majority of them returned to work after the state government accepted most of their demands, but the issue of merger remains unresolved.

    The MSRTC is one of the biggest state transport corporations in the county with a fleet of more than 16,000 buses and around 93,000 employees, including drivers and conductors.

    The corporation used to ferry over 65 lakh passengers daily before the coronavirus outbreak last year.

  • High Court seeks Nawab Malik’s response on defamation suit filed by NCB officer Sameer Wankhede’s father

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Monday directed Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik to submit an affidavit in response to a defamation suit filed by Dhyandev Wankhede, the father of Narcotics Control Bureau’s (NCB) Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede.

    A vacation bench of Justice Madhav Jamdar asked Malik to file his affidavit by Tuesday, and posted the matter for further hearing on Wednesday.

    “You (Malik) file your reply by tomorrow. If you can reply on Twitter, you can reply here also,” Justice Jamdar said, without passing any order restraining Malik from making any further statements against the plaintiff (Dhyandev Wankhede).

    Advocate Arshad Shaikh, appearing for Dhyandev Wankhede, told the court that everyday some false and defamatory statement is being made by the defendant (Malik) which then leads to further comments on social media that are further defamatory.

    “Just this morning, the defendant has posted a tweet about Sameer Wankhede’s sister-in-law,” Shaikh argued, adding that at least till the matter is heard, the court should either direct Malik or he should himself restrain from making any further statements.

    Malik’s advocate Atul Damle, while seeking time to file an affidavit to the suit, told the court that the plaintiff cannot speak on behalf of his adult children and also cannot attribute to Malik what other persons have commented on social media.

    Dhyandev Wankhede, in his suit, has sought damages to the tune of Rs 1.25 crore from Malik for allegedly making defamatory comments against his son Sameer Wankhede and family through press conferences and via social media.

    The suit has sought an order declaring Malik’s statements as defamatory in nature and a permanent injunction restraining the NCP leader from publishing or making statements before the media, including his social media accounts.

    The suit stated that the statements by Malik that Wankhede is a Muslim amounted to questioning the religious beliefs of the family by disputing that they are not Hindus.

    It claimed that Malik’s statements caused an irreparable loss, damage, harm, prejudice to the name, character, reputation and societal image of Wankhede and his family.

    The suit also sought directions to Malik to take back all defamatory statements made by him so far and also to delete all his tweets posted against the plaintiff and his family members.

    Sameer Wankhede had last month led a raid on a cruise ship and the NCB claimed to have seized drugs onboard.

    Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan and 19 others were later arrested in connection with the cruise drugs case.

    Malik has repeatedly termed the cruise drugs case as “fake” and levelled a string of allegations against the NCB officer.

  • Bombay HC remands Anil Deshmukh in ED custody till November 12; sets aside judicial custody order

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Sunday set aside a special court’s order remanding former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh to judicial custody, and sent him in the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) custody till November 12 in a money laundering case.

    A vacation bench of Justice Madhav Jamdar was hearing an application filed by the ED, challenging the special court’s order of November 6 remanding Deshmukh to 14-day judicial custody, on the ground that it was bad in law and against the principles of natural justice.

    Deshmukh’s counsel Vikram Chaudhri and advocate Aniket Nikam told the court that while they were opposing the plea on merits and maintainability, the NCP leader has consented and volunteered to be interrogated by the ED.

    The court then remanded Deshmukh to ED custody till November 12.

    Deshmukh was arrested by the ED on November 1 after 12 hours of questioning in connection with a multi-crore money laundering case.

    He was produced before a special holiday court on November 2 which remanded him to ED’s custody till November 6.

    When he was produced before the special court on Saturday, the ED had sought further custody, but the court refused and sent him in judicial custody.

    The ED had initiated a probe against Deshmukh and his associates after the CBI filed its FIR against the NCP leader on April 21 on charges of corruption and misuse of official position.

    The ED had earlier arrested two persons in the case, Sanjeev Palande (additional collector rank official who was working as Deshmukh’s private secretary) and Kundan Shinde (Deshmukh’s personal assistant).

    The agency earlier submitted its prosecution complaint (equivalent to a charge sheet) against the duo before a special court.

  • Mumbai drugs-on-cruise case: HC rejects anticipatory bail plea of suspect Sam D’souza

    By ANI

    MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court has rejected the anticipatory bail application of Sam D’souza, who is facing allegations of extortion in the drugs-on-cruise case.

    The vacation bench of Bombay High Court while hearing the plea on Wednesday asked him to approach Sessions Court instead.

    Earlier, Prabhakar Sail, a witness, alleged that a deal of Rs 18 crore was made for the release of Aryan Khan, son of Shah Rukh Khan. Sail had also named D’souza as a beneficiary.

    In D’Souza’s plea, he claimed that Kiran Gosavi, a witness of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in the drug-on-cruise case, had taken Rs 50 lakh from Shah Rukh Khan’s manager Pooja Dadlani to get Aryan Khan released.

    Aryan, who was arrest on October 3, was recently granted bail after Bombay High Court issued a detailed bail order which stated that the accused should appear before NCB every Friday. He was also asked to surrender his passport.

    An NCB team busted an alleged drugs party on the Cordelia Cruise ship which was on its way to Goa at mid-sea on October 2. A total of 20 people, including two Nigerian nationals, have been arrested so far in the case.

  • Will give 3-day notice to Sameer Wankhede before arrest: Mumbai Police to Bombay HC

    By Express News Service

    MUMBAI: The city police on Thursday assured the Bombay High Court that it will not arrest the NCB’s zonal director Sameer Wankhede without giving him three days’ notice.

    The assurance came after Wankhede moved the court seeking protection. Wankhede filed a plea seeking an urgent hearing. He said he feared that police would arrest him over allegations of extortion against him in the case related to drugs-on-cruise involving actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan.

    His lawyer and senior advocate Atul Nanda mentioned the petition before a bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and S V Kotwal, seeking interim protection from arrest. Wankhede was a senior officer of the Narcotics Control Bureau and not a “drug peddler”, the lawyer said.

    ALSO READ | Mumbai police set up team for inquiry into ‘extortion bid’ in Aryan case

    Besides a direction to police not to arrest him, the petition sought that the allegations against him be probed by an independent agency such as the CBI or NIA.

    Wankhede feared that the Mumbai police’s probe against him was likely to be biassed and unfair, it said. He was a “decorated officer” of the NCB who was being subjected to “public vilification” following Aryan Khan’s arrest, the petition said.

    Prabhakar Sail, the personal bodyguard of now a key witness in the Aryan Khan case Kiran Gosavi, in his affidavit alleged that Wankhede and his associates had demanded Rs 25 crore from actor Shahrukh Khan to release his son Aryan. He and another witness Shekhar Kamble also alleged that Sameer Wankhede had taken their signature on ten blank pages and made them witnesses.

    Meanwhile, state minister Nawab Malik asked why Wankhede does not trust the Mumbai Police? “When he was arresting and harassing people on false charges, he was enjoying the limelight. Now, he is running pillar to post to save himself. We will expose him,” Malik said. He tweeted: “Picture (movie) Abhi Baki hai dost.”

    Nawab Malik claimed that the wedding of Sameer and Shabhana was done according to Islamic rituals and posted their nikah-nama on social media to substantiate his claim that Wankhede concealed his Muslim identity and forged documents to claim SC quota for the job.

    ALSO READ | Aryan Khan gets bail in drugs-on-cruise case, to be freed on Friday

    Earlier in the day, Sameer Wankhde’s wife Kranti Redkar wrote a letter to CM Uddhav Thackeray that as they are a Marathi family, the Shiv Sena should protect them from personal attacks. She referred to Thackeray as a brother, reminded him of the Balasaheb Thackeray’s days of protecting Marathi Manoos, and said they expected the same from his son.

    Meanwhile, Sameer Wankhde’s first father-in-law Zaheed Quraishi said they always knew the Wankhede family as followers of Islam. “In 2006, when Sameer and Shabana got married, Sameer was a practising Muslim. He would also occasionally visit mosques,” Quraishi said.

    “In fact, I always knew Dnyandev as Dawood Wankhede. We agreed to the wedding of my daughter Shabana with Sameer because we had cordial relations with his late mother Zaheeda,” Dr Qureshi said, adding that the marriage between Sameer and Shabana was an arranged one and it did not last long as the duo got divorced in the same month.

    Quraishi further said since the controversy over Sameer Wankhede’s religion, he was being questioned by people about how he allowed his daughter to marry a Hindu. “It became an issue of prestige for me and my family. Hence, I am making it clear that when the marriage between my daughter Shabana and Sameer took place, the groom was practising Islam. His father’s name was Dawood,” he said.

  • No bail for Aryan Khan yet, Bombay HC adjourns matter for Thursday

    By Online Desk

    The Bombay High Court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of bail applications filed by Aryan Khan in connection with the alleged seizure of drugs on a cruise till Thursday. 

    The matter will be heard after 2.30 pm on Thursday, the single-judge bench of Justice Nitin Sambre said.

    ASG Anil Singh, appearing for the NCB, told the court that he would reply to arguments made by Mukul Rohatgi, Amit Desai, and Ali Kaashif Khan Deshmukh, who argued on behalf of the accused, on Thursday. “I will try to finish my arguments within one hour,” said ASG Singh.

    Desai, appearing for Arbaaz Merchant, argued that there were no grounds for any kind of conspiracy as it was alleged. “If there are three unconnected persons coming for the same purpose, that is not a conspiracy,” he said. He reiterated the arguments made in the case of Aryan, that the WhatsApp chats were unrelated to the Mumbai cruise. On Tuesday, he had argued that the WhatsApp chats between Aryan and a friend over online poker were being “misinterpreted” by the NCB as about drugs.

    Senior advocate and former AG Mukul Rohatgi, appearing on behalf of Aryan Khan, concluded his arguments on Tuesday. He termed Aryan’s arrest “arbitrary”, as the court began its bail hearing on Tuesday. Rohatgi said neither there was any recovery of drugs from Aryan Khan, nor any medical test conducted or consumption of drugs found. So there was no need to arrest him. “No recovery, no consumption, I submit I am wrongly arrested,” Rohatgi said while arguing for Aryan.

    Also, there was no material to show that Aryan financed illicit trafficking of drugs, the former AG added. “Penalty is for consumption or carrying it. I don’t have it, possession of somebody else can’t be my possession. Unless it is in my knowledge.”

    Young Aryan should be sent for rehabilitation and not jail, Rohatgi had said while citing the Centre’s plans to bring in reform measures.

    A special court in Mumbai had on last Wednesday refused to grant bail to Aryan Khan and two others in connection with the seizure of drugs. Following this, Aryan moved a bail application in the High Court against the NDPS court order on his bail rejection.

    The NCB, in its affidavit, said attempts are being made to tamper with the ongoing investigation with a malafide intention to derail the probe into the case. “This is evident from the contents of a purported affidavit of one Prabhakar Sail,” the agency said, referring to the allegations of extortion attempt made by Sail, an independent witness in the case.

    The affidavit also referred to Pooja Dadlani and said: “this lady appears to have influenced panch witnesses when the investigation is ongoing”. The NCB said the bail plea was “misconceived and ill-conceived”.

    It said the probe into the case so far has revealed Aryan Khan’s role in illicit procurement, transportation, and consumption of drugs. The agency said prima facie investigation has revealed that Aryan Khan used to procure drugs from his friend Arbaaz Merchant, also an accused in the case.

    “The applicant (Aryan Khan) was in touch with some persons abroad who appear to be part of an international drug network for illicit procurement of drugs,” it said. The affidavit further said even though there has been no recovery from Aryan Khan, he has “participated in the conspiracy”. “Prima facie investigation has revealed that this application is not just a mere consumer of drugs as sought to be made out by him,” it said.

    The applicant has not made out any case for enlargement of bail, prima facie, and/or otherwise, the NCB said. “The role of this applicant (Aryan Khan) in the commission of grave and serious offences under the NDPS Act including illicit drug trafficking is apparent considering the nexus and connection of this applicant with the other accused in the case,” the affidavit said.

    It added that there has been the recovery of an intermediate quantity of drugs from the other accused in the case and hence, the case of Aryan Khan cannot be looked at in isolation.

    “The ingredients of conspiracy are clear and evident,” the affidavit said, adding that in such cases the quantum of recovery of drugs from an individual accused becomes inconsequential. The NCB also said it is still probing the case and a charge sheet needs to be filed. It said the agency requires sufficient time to properly investigate the international linkages so as to approach the foreign agency concerned through proper channel, which would entail some more time.

    Meanwhile, Aryan Khan’s advocates submitted to the HC an additional note stating that he has nothing to do with the allegations and counter-allegations that are being circulated between the NCB’s zonal director Wankhede and certain political personalities. “The applicant (Aryan Khan) does not make any allegations against any individual in the prosecution department,” the note said.

    It further said Aryan Khan has no connection with Prabhakar Sail, an independent witness in the case, who has made allegations of extortion attempts against Wankhede and others.