No Friday release for Aryan; HC puts 14 bail conditions, Juhi Chawla stands surety for SRK son

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Despite securing bail from the Bombay High Court in a drugs case, Aryan Khan, son of superstar Shah Rukh Khan, will spend one more night in Mumbai’s Arthur Road prison as documents related to his release did reach jail authorities in time on Friday, while the HC imposed 14 conditions on him, including bond payment of Rs 1 lakh and weekly visit to the NCB office here.

In the evening, a special court issued the release memo for Aryan Khan, granted bail by the HC on Thursday after 25 days of arrest in the case related to alleged seizure of drugs onboard a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast earlier this month, but his legal could not meet the deadline for submission of papers.

Shah Rukh Khan’s actor-friend Juhi Chawla stood as surety for his 23-year-old son before the special court, designated to hear cases related to the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS).

We won’t give special treatment for anyone. The law is the same for all. The deadline for receiving the bail papers was 5.30 pm. That has passed. He won’t be released today, senior jail official told PTI.

The HC on Friday afternoon made available its operative order in which it imposed 14 bail conditions on Aryan Khan and his co-accused in the case, Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha, who were also granted bail, stipulating their release on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh each with one or two sureties of the same amount.

In the five-page order, signed by Justice N W Sambre, the high court said the trio will have to surrender their passports before the NDPS court and shall not leave India without taking permission from the special court and that they will have to attend the NCB office each Friday between 11 am and 2 pm to mark their presence.

The judge will give a detailed bail order with reasons next week.

The HC said if the trio violate any of the conditions imposed then the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), which is probing the cruise drugs case, shall “straightaway apply to the special judge/court for cancellation of their bail.” “Each of the applicants/accused shall execute personal bond of Rs 1 lakh with one or more sureties in the like amount,” the order said.

The HC said the accused shall not personally or through anyone make any attempt to influence witnesses or tamper with the evidence.

The high court directed the trio to surrender their passports before the special NDPS court and shall not leave India without taking permission from the special court. The accused should give prior intimation to the NCB before leaving Mumbai and shall provide with their itinerary.

It added that Aryan Khan, his friend Merchant and Dhamecha, a fashion model, shall not indulge in any activity similar to the activities on the basis of which the present case stands registered against them for offences under the NDPS Act.

The HC further said the trio shall not establish any contact with any of the co-accused in the case or anyone involved in similar activities, and join the investigation as and when called by the NCB.

“Once the trial begins, the applicants/accused shall not in any manner try to delay the trial,” the court said.

While Aryan Khan and Merchant are lodged at the Arthur Road prison in central Mumbai, Dhamecha is at the Byculla women’s prison.

Chawla arrived at the special court along with Aryan Khan’s legal team, including advocate Satish Maneshinde, and submitted the surety and necessary documents. They appeared before special Judge V V Patil where Maneshinde said Chawla would be standing as surety and submitted her Aadhaar card for verification.

While Chawla stood in front of the judge, Maneshinde told the court that the actress knows the applicant (Aryan Khan) since his childhood and that she and his father (Shah Rukh Khan) are professionally associated. The court, after verification, accepted the surety following which Chawla was asked to go to the court’s registry department to sign the necessary papers.

Once there, a crowd gathered to click photos with the actress.

After Chawla signed the papers, they were sent back to the court for the judge to sign the surety bond and issue the release memo.

While leaving the court building, Chawla told reporters, “There is a sense of relief in the family. We are all happy it is over.” Aryan Khan’s legal team later left the court with the memo for the Arthur Road prison, but failed to meet the 5.30 pm deadline for jail officials to accept release documents.

Earlier, Aryan Khan’s legal team had indicated that a slight postponement till 7 pm” was possible.

Aryan Khan, Merchant and Dhamecha were arrested by the NCB on October 3 and booked under relevant sections of the NDPS Act for possession, consumption, sale/purchase of banned drugs and conspiracy and abetment. Their arrest came a day after the NCB raided the cruise ship and claimed to have seized banned drugs. So far, 20 people have been arrested in the case and two of them were granted bail by the special NDPS court earlier this week.