NCP can go to court, its allegations against NCB are baseless, says Deputy DG Gyaneshwar Singh

Responding to Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP) allegations regarding NCB's raid on Cordelia cruise ship, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Deputy Director-General Gyaneshwar Singh on Wednesday said that that the party could go to court for justice, that the NCB has done everything as per law and the allegations against it are baseless.

Earlier on Wednesday, Maharashtra Cabinet Minister and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik alleged that Narcotics Control Bureau raid onboard a Mumbai cruise was "forgery", and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has misused the central agency to frame Aryan Khan.

"If they (NCP) want to go the court, they can go and seek justice. We will reply there. We have done everything as per law," said Singh.

NCB reiterated, "our procedure has been and will continue to be professionally and legally transparent and unbiased".

"Some allegations levelled against the organisation (NCB) are baseless and seem to have been with malice and probable prejudice that may have been harboured in retaliation against earlier legal action carried out by NCB," added Singh.

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 night.

A total of 16 arrests have been made in this case and a probe is underway, said NCB Mumbai Director Sameer Wankhede on Wednesday.

Eight persons including Aryan Khan, Arbaz Seth Merchant, Munmun Dhamecha, Vikrant Chhoker, Ismeet Singh, Nupur Sarika, Gomit Chopra and Mohak Jaswal were produced before Mumbai's Esplanade Court on Monday which remanded them to NCB custody till October 7.

Eight persons were detained for questioning by the NCB in connection with the drug seizure on the cruise ship, according to NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede. All of the eight persons were later arrested on October 3.

Three accused including Aryan Khan, Arbaz Seth Merchant, and Munmun Dhamecha were produced before Mumbai's Esplanade Court which remanded them to NCB custody till October 4.

As per the NCB, three persons have been booked under Section 8C, 20B, 27 (Punishment for consumption of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance) and 35 (Presumption of culpable mental state) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS Act).

8C of NDPS Act refers to prohibition to produce, manufacture, possess, sell, purchase, transport, warehouse, use, consume, import inter-State, export inter-State, import into India, export from India or tranship any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance while Section 20B deals with punishment for producing, manufacturing, possessing, selling, purchasing, transportation, imports inter-State, exports inter-State or use of cannabis.

Satish Maneshinde, the lawyer arguing in defence of Aryan Khan said in the Court, "Accused number 1, Aryan Khan was invited for the cruise party. However, he did not have a boarding pass. He didn't have any seats or cabins there. Secondly, according to the seizure, nothing has been found in his possession. He is arrested only based on chats."

( With inputs from ANI )

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor