Bollywood star’s son released on bail in drug case after 28 days
New Delhi, Oct 30 (EFE).- Aryan Khan, son of Indian film actor Shah Rukh Khan – often called the “King of Bollywood” – was on Saturday released from prison after spending 28 days in custody over allegatins of drug trafficking in a case that has attracted massive media hype.
Aryan, 23, left the Arthur Road prison in Mumbai – the financial and film hub of the country – at 5.30 am.
Local news broadcasters showed chaos outside the prison as fans, police and dozens of mediapersons jostled to get a look at the young man as he entered his father’s car.
Minutes after he left the prison surrounded by security guards and was followed on live television, Aryan’s car was again surrounded by journalists and fans, who celebrated his release by setting off firecrackers and playing drums.
“Welcome home Aryan,” said a placard held by fans outside Shah Rukh Khan’s residence in Mumbai.
The superstar’s son was arrested on Oct. 2 in Mumbai along with six other people in a raid on a party onboard a cruise ship headed to the neigboring state of Goa.
The Narcotics Control Bureau of India had claimed that the accused had frequently consumed banned substances and was in contact with people overseas who could be part of a drug trafficking ring.
Meanwhile Aryan’s defense lawyers argued that he did not possess drugs or sufficient money to buy them at the time of his arrest and there was no evidence to link him with drug trafficking.
Courts had at first denied bail to Aryan on more than one occasion before finally allowing his release in an order on Thursday, although he had to spend two more nights in jail while the formalities were being completed.
The arrest of the eldest child of 55-year-old Shah Rukh Khan, one of the most popular actors of the country who has delivered massive hits dating back to Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), had sent shockwaves across India.
Many analysts have termed the case a “witch-hunt” against Khan for his Muslim identity in a Hindu-majority country, or alleged that he was being made a scapegoat by the authorities in the war against drugs in order to send a signal that even the most powerful could not escape the law. EFE
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