Bail to Aryan: King Khan greets his legal team for court victory

Mumbai, Oct 28 (IANS) After 27 days, in a major relief, the Bombay High Court on Thursday granted bail to Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha who were nabbed in the cruise ship rave party raided by the Narcotics Control Bureau.

In a major relief, the Bombay High Court on Thursday granted bail to Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha who were nabbed in the cruise ship rave party raided by the Narcotics Control Bureau.

While granting a conditional bail to the trio, Justice N.W. Sambre passed the operative order and the detailed order is expected on Friday.

Accordingly, the trio of Khan, Merchant and Dhamecha will not step out of the jails till the court's orders are received, said a defence lawyer.

The bail verdict came after over 9 hours of hearing spread over three afternoons at the packed hall of the high court given the unprecedented public interest in the goings-on.

"The high court has granted bail to Aryan, Arbaaz and Munmun," said a victorious Mukul Rohatgi, the former Attorney General of India, who represented the son of Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan in the critical final three days of arguments.

The advocate-on-record for Aryan, Satish Maneshinde, glanced upwards and briefly commented: "God is great".

Rohatgi declined further comments till the detailed bail order is received, which will be sent to the Arthur Road Central Jail to process before they actually step out of their barred enclosures.

Nationalist Congress Party Minister Nawab Malik welcomed the bail order and said that they should have been granted bail on the very first day of their arrest.

"The NCB has concocted a totally false case... They kept changing their stance to deny bail to the accused. It's a 'farziwada' which will not stand the scrutiny of the courts," Malik asserted.

The NCP leader, who has been making serial exposures on the NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede, said: "It's ironic that the officer who had jailed these people for so many days is not running scared of being jailed and approaching the courts for relief."

The accused trio -- along with five others -- were detained on October 2 when the NCB swooped on the alleged rave party aboard the Cordelia Cruise ship.

The following day (October 3) they were formally arrested and have been away from their homes for the past 27 days as their case grabbed national attention.

Later, during the investigations, the NCB had nabbed another 12 more persons some of whom have secured bail from the Special NDPS Court.

In a rare gesture, Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan came out to greet his entire legal team which ensured bail for his son Aryan Khan, who has been away from home in detention and custody since the past 27 days, here on Thursday.

Sporting a casual white T-shirt and dark trousers, Khan met his battery of lawyers led by eminent lawyer Satish Maneshinde and his legal army which toiled since October 2 and finally ensured Aryan got bail.

It is also not known what exactly the beaming King Khan -- who has maintained a dignified silence right from Day One -- discussed with them, but all the legal eagles were happily smiling, laughing and apparently thrilled by the encounter with the actor in flesh-and-blood.

Members of the fraternity took to social media to lend their support to Aryan and rejoiced at the serving of justice by the court.

Director Sanjay Gupta was the first to share his thoughts over social media.

I’m very happy that Aryan Khan has gotten bail but also very upset with a system that kept a young man behind bars for more than 25 days for something he never did.
That has to change!!!
God bless you and be strong Aryan Khan.

— Sanjay Gupta (@_SanjayGupta) October 28, 2021

Ranvir Shorey followed by tweeting, "Der hai, andher nahi. #justice."

'Scam 1992' director Hansal Mehta took a dig at NCB as he posted

I want to have a blast tonight!

— Hansal Mehta (@mehtahansal) October 28, 2021

Sonu Sood wrote in Hindi, "When time serves justice, it doesn't call for witnesses."

Ram Gopal Varma, who is known for his unconventional and witty remarks, said, "So if it just took Mukul Rohatgi's argument to get bail for Aryan, does it mean his earlier lawyers were so incompetent that he had to spend so many days in jail needlessly?"

Actor R. Madhavan tweeted, "Thank God. As a father I am So relieved. May all good and positive things happen."

Mika Singh also shared his feelings as he tweeted, "Congratulations to #AryanKhan and to the other accused for getting bail. I'm so happy that it was finally granted, bro @iamsrk 'Bhagwan ke ghar mein der hai andher nahi'. You have contributed hugely to the fraternity. God bless both you and your family."