Mumbai: Magistrate issues notice to NCB over Arbaaz Merchant's plea for CCTV footage from day of cruise raid

MUMBAI: Arbaaz Merchant, 26, arrested and currently in the custody of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Wednesday applied for bail and also applied separately for orders to call for the CCTV footage from 11.30am to 8.30pm on October 2 at International Terminal, Green Gate, Mumbai Port Trust, and for CISF to preserve a record of the footage.
Additional chief metropolitan magistrate R M Nerlikar at Esplanade Court after hearing his counsel Taraq Sayed, issued notice to the NCB in the CCTV footage application.
He said the “footage may be called for to check the veracity of the panchnama, its contents and the entire case of the prosecution regarding the alleged recovery.” His contention is that the “footage will show that no contraband was recovered from" his possession and was “planted by the NCB".
Sameer Wankhede, zonal director, NCB, when contacted later said, "We will give our reply to the court."
The notice to the Intelligence Officer, NCB, says, “You are hereby required to appear before this Court on October 7, 2021, to file your say, if any, why the application should not be granted."
Merchant denied that any contraband was seized from him “or his shoe" as alleged by the NCB, and that a “false case has been foisted" on him.
Merchant’s case is that he is “innocent and has been falsely framed."
Section 29 for conspiracy “has been invoked with a malafide intent" to rope him in for offence he has no connection with and of which there is “no evidence."
The court kept the bail plea in abeyance till the remand is decided.
The next remand date for Merchant, who is a close friend and co-accused Aryan Khan, 23, in the case registered by the NCB following its raid on a cruise ship last Saturday, is Thursday. No drugs were found or recovered from Khan and the NCB case is that six grams of charas was found with Merchant.
The NCB team led by officer Sameer Wankhede allegedly affected a seizure of 13 grams of cocaine, 5 grams of mephedrone, 21 grams of charas and 22 pills of MDMA (ecstasy) and Rs. 1.33 lakh cash at International Cruise Terminal, Green Gate, Mumbai. The panchnama (report of seizure) is of October 2.
The NCB issued summons under section 67 of the NDPS Act, 1985 to Merchant, other and the bail plea says his alleged voluntary statement was recorded and he was arrested at 2 pm on October 3 for his alleged involvement in consumption, sale, purchase and attempt to commit offence under section 8 (c) r/w 20(b) (possession), 27 (consumption of drug), 28 (attempt to commit an offence), 29 (abets or party to criminal conspiracy to commit an offence) r/w 35 (presumption of intent or knowledge) of the NDPS, Act 1985.
Merchant was on Sunday, first remanded by a holiday magistrate till October 4 when the regular court extended his NCB custody till October 7 saying “investigation is at initial stage, which is of prime importance for reasons stated in remand report." The court had said “presence of accused with NCB is necessary for detailed investigation" and that “it will be useful to the prosecution as well as to the accused to prove their innocence."
His plea is that the remand applications filed before the court were “cryptic applications which were devoid of true and correct events as disclosed during the panchnama."
The panchnama, supplied to his lawyer on October 5, disclosed facts “contradictory” to the ones mentioned in the Remand application, is his plea.
According to the panchnama dated October 2, the officers of the NCB were at International Terminal, Green Gate, Mumbai Port Trust, Mumbai – 01 at 11.30am as they had information that a group travelling in Cordelia Cruise were having party drugs with them for “sale and consumption".
His bail plea said the NCB had “misguided and mislead" the court “by concealing material facts, by combining individual recoveries to show the court a total recovery and concealing the fact that there was no recovery from Khan" and that Khan “had no connection with any of the passengers who were to board the cruise on 02.10.2021.”
“The remand application was further totally silent about the fact that the alleged recovery of 6 grams of charas from the present applicant was an individual recovery and that he had no connection with any of the other accused persons who were apprehended on October 2, 2021," said the bail plea.
The NCB case itself is that besides the alleged connection between Merchant and Khan, the two never met any of the co-accused in the case.
“The department ought to have come up with clean hands before this court and prosecuted the accused persons individually for individual recoveries as each of these accused persons who are alleged to be passengers on a cruise ship and admittedly were travelling individually and not in a group," the bail plea reads.
The only alleged charge against Merchant can be under section 27 for consumption and it attracts a maximum punishment of a year or fine.
His plea is also that the NDPS Act section 36(5) provides for offences to be tried “summarily" and bail can be granted.
The alleged recovery of 6 grams, if true, is a small amount and he has “absolutely no connection" with the cruise organisers.