Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan on October 21, Thursday morning met his son 23-year-old Aryan, who is currently lodged in a barrack at the Arthur Road Central Jail (ARCJ) in Mumbai, after his detention and arrest by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in a drugs case. The pony-tailed senior Khan sporting dark shades and a black face mask was mobbed by the paparazzi and the hordes of policemen as he entered the ARCJ.
Accompanied by a couple of their lawyers, the father-son duo met ahead of Aryan Khan’s bail plea, which will be heard by the Bombay High Court on Tuesday, October 26. Despite a volley of media queries, Khan moved around with folded hands but did not respond, as he emerged after a 20-minute tete-a-tete with Aryan.
This is the first meeting between Khan and his son, who has spent 20 nights away from home after he was detained by the NCB after it raided an alleged rave party on a cruise ship off Mumbai on October 2, arrested on October 3, and has remained in continuous custody till date, shocking Bollywood circles and their fans.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Aryan Khan had moved the Bombay High Court after his bail petition was rejected by the special NDPS court.
Aryan Khan and two others — Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha — have been booked for offences under Sections 8(c), 20(b), 27, 28, 29 and 35 of the NDPS Act. During the bail hearing on October 13, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Anil Singh, appearing on behalf of the NCB, alleged that Aryan Khan is part of an international drug conspiracy. Since his arrest, the NCB has maintained that though nothing was recovered from him personally, Aryan’s WhatsApp chats revealed his links with drug peddlers. However, in his bail application, Aryan dubbed the allegation “absurd” and pointed out that no drugs were recovered from him during the cruise ship raid. The agency can continue the probe, but the allegation of links to an international racket against Aryan is “inherently absurd and false”, Aryan’s counsel Amit Desai said.
(With IANS inputs)