India / Aryan Khan granted bail by Bombay High Court in Mumbai cruise drugs case

Mumbai: Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan has been granted bail by the Bombay high court on Thursday in connection with the drugs-on-cruise case. Arbaaz Merchant and Munmum Dhamecha have also been granted bail. Aryan Khan has spent around three weeks in Mumbai's Arthur Road Prison after his previous bail pleas were rejected by the NCB court. The detailed order of the bail will be released tomorrow and until the order comes, Aryan, Arbaaz and Munmun will not be released from the jail, where they have been lodged since October 8. In that case., it is very likely that Aryan Khan will walk out of the jail either on Friday or Saturday.

The Bombay high court on Thursday heard the case for the third consecutive day. Justice NW Sambre allowed bail to the three accused after hearing former AG Mukul Rohatgi for Aryan Khan and ASG Anil Singh for the Narcotics Control Bureau.

While the NCB opposed the bail by reiterating that Aryan Khan was not new to drugs and dealt with peddlers, Mukul Rohatgi contested that the NCB could not prove any conspiracy as it has claimed.

NCB conducted a raid at a rave party from where Aryan, Arbaaz and Munmun were arrested among others. The case snowballed into a political storm with allegations of irregularities, extortions being added to it.

Here is a quick recap of what happened so far.

October 2: NCB conducted the raid on the Goa-bound Cordelia Cruise and detained around 14 persons.

October 3: Eight of those 14, including Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan, was arrested. They were remanded to NCB custody till October 4. 

October 4: Their NCB custody was extended till October 7.

October 7: NCB was denied further custody and Aryan Khan and others were sent to judicial custody for 14 days. Meanwhile, NCB conducted more raids and many others were arrested. 

October 8: The metropolitan magistrate's court rejected Aryan's bail applications.

October 11: The lawyers of the other accused moved a Mumbai special court designated under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. 

October 13: Aryan's bail application gets adjourned till October 14. 

October 14: The case was posted till October 20.

October 20: Special NDPS court rejected the bail plea

October 21: Shah Rukh Khan met Aryan Khan in jail. The court extended Aryan Khan's custody till October 30. Meanwhile, the layers decided to approach the Bombay high court. 

October 26, 27,28: Bombay High Court heard the case for three days and finally granted bail to all three accused.

Meanwhile, the NCB sought some documents from Shah Rukh Khan to probe into Aryan's medical history, foreign travel details etc. Bollywood actor Ananya Panday was also summoned for questioning in connection with Aryan Khan's alleged drug consumption, as the NCB claimed that Ananya seems to have arranged drugs for Aryan Khan thrice.