Shah Rukh Khan meets Aryan Khan at jail; Both speak over intercom

Mumbai: Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan today went to the Arthur Road Central Jail here to meet his son Aryan Khan, who has been arrested by the NCB in a drugs case and lodged in the prison.

The meeting between the senior and junior Khan lasted about 16-18 minutes in the visitation section. There was a glass partition between them while the two spoke to each other over the intercom. Jail authorities were present at the spot, reported India Today.

Restrictions were earlier imposed on physical meetings at jails in Maharashtra due to the COVID-19 situation. The restrictions were withdrawn yesterday while today was the first day of resumption of physical meetings in Maharashtra jails.

#WATCH Actor Shah Rukh Khan reaches Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail to meet son Aryan who is lodged at the jail, in connection with drugs on cruise ship case#Mumbai pic.twitter.com/j1ozyiVYBM

— ANI (@ANI) October 21, 2021

Accompanied by a couple of their lawyers, the father-son duo met ahead of Aryan Khan’s bail plea, which is likely to come up before the Bombay High Court later in the day.

However, despite a volley of media queries, Khan moved around with folded hands but without response.

A special NDPS court in Mumbai had yesterday rejected the bail plea of Aryan Khan in the case related to the raid on a rave party aboard a cruise ship on October 2.

Special NDPS Judge V.V. Patil also declined the bail applications of Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha, the two others accused in the drug case lodged by Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).

Shortly thereafter, Aryan Khan’s lawyers, senior advocate Amit Desai and Satish Maneshinde rushed to the Bombay High Court to mention the matter before Justice N.W. Sambre, but the court hours had ended, and now, the matter is likely to come up on Thursday.

Aryan Khan, Merchant and Dhamecha, along with five others were detained on October 2, and placed under arrest on October 3 after the NCB raided the luxury ship preparing to sail on a Mumbai-Goa cruise.

Initially, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate R.M. Nerlikar had sent them to a day’s custody which was later extended till October 7, and later sent to judicial custody for 14 days, and transferred the case to the Special NDPS court.

Later, their lawyers moved the special court for bail which was rejected after several days of hearing in which the NCB’s counsel, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh vehemently opposed bail for the accused.

Among other things, the NDPS accused Aryan Khan of being a regular consumer of drugs, dealing in narcotics and the case having international links, etc as evident from his WhatsApp chats.

The NCB’s contentions were strongly countered by his lawyers, especially since no drugs were recovered from him and the lawyers of the other co-accused also strongly pleaded for bail.

Singh, however, argued that at least five out of the 20 arrested are drug peddlers and are somehow linked with the other co-accused which the NCB is trying to unearth.

Besides Khan, Merchant and Dhamecha, the others arrested on October 3 include Nupur Satija, Ishmeet Singh Chadha, Mohak Jaswal, Gomit Chopra, and Vikrant Chhoker, and later in swoops another 12 persons were nabbed in connection with the same case.

(With IANS inputs)