NEWS

After day-long hearing of the bail application of Aryan Khan, 23, son of actor Shah Rukh Khan, the special trial judge on Thursday reserved the order and is likely to pass his order on October 20.

Khan will be lodged in Arthur Road jail. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) special counsel, ASG Anil Singh, invoked Mahatma Gandhi and freedom fighters to argue that the drug menace cannot be allowed in the land whose freedom they fought for. Senior counsel Amit Desai for Aryan Khan countered, saying that as part of the freedom struggle, what was fought for was also liberty, fundamental rights, and the doctrine of the rule of law and the need for compliance with the law and Constitutional principles. “We cannot pick up young children who are at the bottom of the food chain as consumers and put them in jails,” said Desai. The hearing was before a packed courtroom of special NDPS judge V V Patil.

The judge called for the case papers. The court has also reserved the order in two other bail applications-- those of Khan’s friend Arbaaz Merchant, 26, and Munmun Dhamecha, 28 a model from Madhya Pradesh.

Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday asked Bharatiya Janata Party workers in Goa to raise the bar and set their sights on getting a complete majority in next year’s assembly elections on its own, a feat that the BJP has achieved only once in the past.

Shah said it is only when the BJP has a complete majority that it can provide a decisive government.

“Why do we need a complete majority? How do two MLAs more, or less matter? It makes a difference. You tell me if Modi hadn’t got a complete majority, would the Ram Janmabhoomi temple be built in Ayodhya? If there was no full majority, would we have been able to revoke Article 370? If there was no full majority, would we have been able to take India on a path of development?” Shah said in his address at a convention of BJP workers.

After allegations of snooping, the Mumbai police on Thursday increased the security cover of NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede, who is currently supervising investigation into the high-profile drugs-on-cruise case. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray approved the decision, sources said. Wankhede, who earlier this week claimed that two policemen were monitoring his movements, confirmed the development.

The police have reportedly provided a gunman and three more personnel to guard the senior IRS officer. The vehicle, which he was using earlier, has been replaced with an SUV as part of his new security detail.

The number of police personnel deployed outside the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) office at Ballard Estate in South Mumbai has also been increased, an official said. Wankhede is currently supervising probe into the case of alleged seizure of banned drugs from a cruise ship in which Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, is among those arrested.

The monsoon withdrew from most parts of the country on Thursday, largely sticking to its usual schedule despite a late start to the withdrawal.

It now covers only a small portion of Odisha, some parts of northeast India, and southern Maharashtra. The normal date for its withdrawal from the entire country is October 15.

The monsoon started withdrawing very late this year, on October 6 against the normal date of September 17, but then withdrew rapidly from different parts of the country, according to scientists.