Mumbai: Both Aryan Khan and Arbaaz Merchantt have admitted that they consume charas and they were going to the cruise “for a blast”. The panchanama carried out by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) states that Aryan said the charas was meant for smoking during the cruise journey. The transparent ziplock pouch containing a black sticky substance, believed to be charas, weighed six grams on a digital machine.
The pouch was heat-sealed and placed in a green paper envelope marked as ‘HA’ and sealed with NCB seal no 03, with description of its contents mentioned on the envelope.
Two copies of the panchanama – one typed and another handwritten – are in the possession of the Free Press Journal. The panchnama was recorded after the NCB team, led by investigating officer Ashish Rajan Prasad, approached Aryan and Arbaaz while conducting raids on the cruise.
Kiran Gosavi, who was identified as a private detective, was present as the panch/witness and he had signed on two panchnamas that were recorded. Prabhakahr Sail was also panch/witness and had signed one panchanama along with Gosavi, while Manish Bhanushali, who is a BJP member, was another panch/witness and signed another panchnama along with Gosavi. The second panchnama was that of Munmum Dhamecha and others.
Earlier, Ashish Ranjan Prasad gave notice under section 50 of the NDPS Act, 1985, to Arbaaz and Aryan and explained to them about its provisions. As per the panchnama, “Arbaaz Merchantt said he has charas hidden inside his shoes. The charas in zip lock pouch was taken out from shoes voluntarily by Arbaaz and was handed over to Prasad. The pouch had black sticky substance and it was tested with DD Kit which was confirmed as charas.”
Thereafter, one Gomit Chopra was searched and contraband items were retrieved from his trouser pocket. As per the panchnama, one small zip lock pouch was found with white powder-like substance. It states that Chopra admitted it was cocaine, which was tested by the DD Kit and gave positive results. “It was weighed over the digital weighing machine and was found to be three grams,” the panchnama states.
Meanwhile, NCP chief spokesman and minority affairs minister Nawab Malik questioned how Gosavi could have written two addresses on two panchnamas. He also asked while one was handwritten and the other typed on a laptop. He has alleged that the NCB’s operation was fake but the latter has denied charges.
