Mumbai: Aryan Khan, son of film actor Shah Rukh Khan, walked out of the Arthur Road prison, after spending 22 days in the central Mumbai facility following his arrest during a drug raid on a cruise ship off the city coast.
The 23-year-old, arrested on October 3 by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), walked out of the prison, his ‘home’ since October 8, at 11 am and got into a waiting car, which reached his actual home ‘Mannat’ in suburban Bandra shortly after 11.30 am.
Half an hour before Aryan came out, his father’s bodyguard got down from a white Range Rover car waiting outside the prison and stood near the facility’s gate. He was seen speaking to policemen posted there.
Around 11 am, the car started moving slowly near the prison’s gate and stopped to receive Aryan.
The Range Rover was part of the convoy which left ‘Mannat’ shortly after 8 am and reached a spot near the prison around 9 am, where it halted to avoid a traffic jam in the area, an official said.
A large crowd of Shah Rukh Khan’s fans had gathered outside the prison since early morning. A sizeable media contingent was also present to cover Aryan’s release from the jail.
Outside the prison, fans and onlookers cheering for Shah Rukh Khan and Aryan and trying to catch a glimpse of the superstar were in for a disappointment as they could not see the actor’s face and had to assume that he was in the vehicle.
Outside Mannat, fans across all ages, children, college students and even elderly couple, had showed up to celebrate Aryan’s homecoming. The lane to Mannat’s entrance was jam-packed with crowds. Police and Shah Rukh Khan’s private security had to clear the area for Aryan’s car to move smoothly.
Even after the convoy went inside the bungalow, many fans waited in the hope that Shah Rukh might wave to the eager supporters from the bungalow, as he does annually on his birthday.
Among the fans present was a self-proclaimed seer who sat outside the gate of Mannat in the morning to pray for Aryan and “the youth of Maharashtra so that they do not fall into the trap of drug addiction”.
Ahead of Aryan’s release, Mumbai police had increased police presence outside the Arthur Road prison as a precautionary measure to control the crowd, a police official said.
Besides local police, SRPF team was also present and barricades were put up outside the prison, he said.
The prison officials collected Aryan’s release order from the bail letter box, which was opened at 5.30 am on Saturday.
Speaking outside the prison entrance, jail superintendent Nitin Waychal had earlier said Aryan would be released between 10 am and noon as other prisoners would also be released along with the 23-year-old.
“The more the release orders, the more time it takes to complete the formalities,” he had said.
Speaking to media outside the prison, father of Arbaz Merchant, arrested along with Aryan and lodged at the same jail, said his son would be released in evening.
Aryan came out of the prison a day after a special court issued his release memo.
He was granted bail by the Bombay High Court on Thursday. Shah Rukh Khan’s actor-friend Juhi Chawla stood as surety for the 23-year-old before the special court, designated to hear cases related to the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS).