A special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Court in Mumbai has refused bail to Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan and also to fellow accused Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha, in the cruise drug bust.
Special Judge VV Patil pronounced the order as soon as the Court began proceedings on Wednesday.
Amit Desai, who argued for Aryan’s bail, said he was not as yet aware why the bail plea was rejected. “We have not received the order yet so I am not aware. Once we read the order we will decide our course of action,” he said when asked if he would move the High Court next.
Satish Maneshinde, who has been representing Aryan since the beginning of the case, did not offer any comment. Sameer Wankhede came out of court with two words — Satyamev Jayate. While Shah Rukh and Gauri Khan were not present in Court, his manager Pooja Dadlani and his bodyguard Ravi Singh were there.
Interestingly, during the previous hearing on October 14th, the Narcotics Control Bureau had submitted some details of WhatsApp chats allegedly between Aryan and an upcoming Bollywood actress. They claimed the conversations were about drug consumption. These chats were not presented earlier, but were submitted only before the judge reserved orders for October 20.
Legal experts feel the submission of the new WhatsApp messages could be the reason for bail being denied. Desai had contended during the last hearing that since the NCB didn't recover any contraband or money which could possibly have been used to procure drugs from Aryan Khan, WhatsApp chats were cited to entangle him in the present proceedings.
The NCB arrested Aryan and others on October 3, following a raid the previous night at the international departure terminal, of a Goa-bound cruise liner. Aryan and others accused were booked for offences under Sections 8(c), 20(b), 27, 28, 29 and 35 of the NDPS Act. 33 year-old Aryan was remanded to NCB custody for a few days. After his bail pleas were rejected earlier, on technical grounds, he has been in Mumbai's Arthur Road jail since October 8. He will now remain there till the lawyers decide on the future course of action after reading Justice VV Patil’s order.
Meanwhile
HL: Twinkle hailed; Kajol trolled
One of Shah Rukh Khan’s heroines, Twinkle Khanna was hailed, and another heroine, Kajol, was trolled by the actor’s fans on social media a couple of hours before the order rejecting Aryan’s bail application.
Twinkle, who worked with Shah Rukh Khan in Baadshah, had shared a post, captioning it – ‘Let the desi Squid Games begin.’ The former actress and wife of Akshay Kumar referred to the marbles game from one of the episodes of the Squid Games show and explained the Aryan case metaphorically.
“Each player is given ten marbles and must get their opponent’s marbles by competing in any game of their choosing. In this episode, one of the strongest candidates is badgered and ultimately bamboozled into losing his marbles. I seem to have misplaced mine as well when I read the news about Shah Rukh Khan’s son’s arrest. While his friend was apparently carrying 6 gm of charas, there is reportedly no evidence of possession by Aryan Khan. Yet, the young boy has been languishing in Arthur Road jail for almost two weeks now,” she said.
Interestingly, Akshay Kumar has maintained silence on the issue.
Kajol, on the other hand, saw that her film Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge opposite Shah Rukh was trending and posted the climax scene of the film. “Simran caught the train 26 years back and we are still thanking everyone for all this love... #26YearsOfDDLJ” she wrote, and was promptly trolled by SRK’s fans for posting such content at such a point in the actor’s life.
