Aryan Khan finally returned home on Saturday morning to a hero’s welcome, two days after the Bombay high court granted him bail and almost a month of being lodged at Arthur Road Jail following his arrest in the drugs-on-cruise case. Jail officials had unlocked the bail box at 5.30 am on Saturday to collect Aryan’s release order to initiate the process that had missed its deadline on Friday.
While his father, actor Shah Rukh Khan, left home at 8 am and managed to dodge the media glare the crowd of onlookers that grew by the minute cheered excitedly at a fleeting glimpse of Junior Khan as he emerged from the Arthur Road Jail with Ravi Singh, Shah Rukh Khan’s bodyguard of 10 years, briskly escorting the 23-year-old into the SUV, ready to drive back home.
Meanwhile, the fans gathered outside Mannat, the Khans bungalow, waited in unwavering support. “If we’ve been there for Shah Rukh in the good times, it’s our responsibility to be here for him in the bad times,” said Aparna Agnihotri, member of a fan club, as all went delirious bursting firecrackers, waving banners that read ‘Stay Strong Prince Aryan’ and chants of “We love Shah Rukh.”
Mukul Rohatgi, former Attorney General of India, fought for Aryan Khan's bail in the High Court for three days. Actor Juhi Chawla, Shah Rukh Khan's co-star in the early days of his film career, signed the Rs 100,000 bail bond for Aryan Khan.
Aryan Khan spent nearly a month in jail after his arrest following a Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) raid on a cruise ship party on October 2. He was "Accused Number 1" in the case in which a total of 20 were arrested. The anti-drugs agency found no drugs on him, but claimed in court that his WhatsApp chats proved his involvement in "illicit drug deals" and links with a foreign drugs cartel. The Bombay High Court has listed 14 conditions for his bail - Aryan Khan cannot leave Mumbai without informing the police and has to appear before the agency every Friday.
Nine others also granted bail
A special NDPS court also granted bail to nine arrested accused in the cruise drugs bust case, including the alleged organisers and Aachit Kumar, a 22-year-old student studying in London but arrested from Mumbai, who was accused of being the “supplier” to co-accused Aryan Khan and Arbaaz Merchant.
Unlike in the case of Khan and two others, special judge VV Patil allowed a plea by the accused to be released on a temporary cash bail of Rs 50,000. The nine accused will have to furnish sureties, a longer procedure, within four weeks. Nupur Satija (29) was the first among the nine to make her way home after being released from the jail.
Among those granted bail were Kumar, cruise guests Nupur, Ishmeet Singh Chada (33) and Gomit Chopra (28), city-based alleged peddler Shreyas Nair (23) and alleged organizers Gopal Jee Anand (35), Samir Sehgal (30), Manav Singhal (33) and Bhaskar Arora (26), part of Delhi-based company Caneplus Trading Pvt Ltd operating under the brand name Namas’cray. They were all arrested between October 3 and 6. Imposing conditions, the court said they are to attend the NCB office every Monday until the chargesheet is submitted.
