Siddhanth Kapoor, Aryan Khan, Salman Khan: Bollywood’s brush with the law

There’s a lot of drama on Bollywood screens — and just as much off it. From dating controversies to drug scandals, stars are constantly dealing with one brand of publicity or another .Currently, it’s Bollywood actor Siddhant Kapoor in the hot seat over alleged drug consumption. He’s far from the first A-lister to be on this list. Before him, there was Bollwood mega-star Shah Rukh Khan’s son, who was jailed for being at a party that had ‘consumables’. As Tinsel Town followers wait to see what’s next for Kapoor, here’s a look at other celebrities who have faced serious issues with the law.

But first, here’s what went down on Monday, June 13. Bollywood actor Shraddha Kapoor’s brother, Siddhanth, was arrested for allegedly consuming drugs at a rave party in Bengaluru. He made bail on Tuesday, after his medical reports came in, according to a police statement.

On June 14, Siddhanth Kapoor appeared before the police in Bengaluru in connection with the drug consumption case. “Siddhanth Kapoor claimed that drugs were mixed in his drinks and he didn’t know about it. He told the police that he had been in Bengaluru many times to attend parties as DJ. This was the fourth time that he went to the hotel from where he was arrested. We have got the guest list and suspicious persons will be called for questioning,” said Bhimashankar Guled, DCP (East). The police claimed Siddhanth also said that he has many friends in Bengaluru. The police have seized the mobile phones of Siddhanth and four other accused who were arrested along with him and sent them for data retrieval.

Aryan Khan was arrested back in October 2021 after a party raid over drug suspicions. Narcotics were found, but not on Khan. However, for three weeks the star child languished behind bars as the court decided matters. On May 2022 , Khan was cleared by NCB of all charges and released.

Bollywood actor Armaan Kohli was taken into custody last year by India’s Narcotics Control Bureau after drugs were found in his Mumbai home, an official was quoted as saying by Indian daily Times Of India. He stands to face a series of serious charges. “Apart from just consumption there are several other charges levelled against him. He will be produced in the court tomorrow,” said Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede of the NCB to the paper. He was even denied interim bail.

Actress Shilpa Shetty’s husband, Raj Kundra, was also arrested on July 20 last year for allegedly producing and distributing pornographic material. Kundra has been sent to a 14-day judicial custody following a High Court hearing. Kundra, 45, was arrested by the police on along with 11 other people on charges related to the case. Meanwhile, the Mumbai Crime Branch appointed a financial auditor to probe the money trail. Kundra and his wife have claimed he is innocent, adding that the films are not pornography but erotica and don’t engage in explicit sexual acts.

When the then newest heart-throb on the block Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead in his Mumbai flat on June 14, 2020, his girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty was the subject of a huge investigation that landed her in jail. She made bail 28 days later — she had been booked under sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act — and had to post a personal bond of Rs100,000.

He may be the people’s favourite celebrity, and his popularity far outnumbers that of others. Salman Khan, on the other hand, has had a murky past, having committed more than one crime. He was arrested not just for unlawfully hunting the endangered Black Buck in Rajasthan during the filming of ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’ in the 1990s, but also for a hit-and-run incident. Khan startled the country when, owing to rash and drunk driving, he killed a man sleeping on the pavement outside a bakery in Mumbai, and was sentenced to five years in prison by a sessions court.

Saif Ali Khan was famously involved in the Black Buck case that also struck Salman Khan, Neelam, Tabu and Sonali Bendre. But he was also involved in another case. In 2012, he was once arrested after a businessman filed a complaint against the actor, claiming Khan punched him and fractured his nose. The incident occurred when Khan, Kareena Kapoor and some their friends were at the Wasabi Restaurant at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai. The actor was released on bail the same day.

It’s not easy dating an underworld mobster, and Monica Bedi experienced her fair share of prison when she was arrested for forging her identity. She was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for falsifying paperwork in order to enter Portugal, and she was only released in 2010.

After news of Shiney Ahuja being accused of raping his maid in 2009 made headlines, he was detained for it. He also faced public humiliation and nasty treatment in the Bollywood industry because of it. He was sentenced to seven years in jail against which he appealed before Bombay High Court. He is currently out on bail.

Sanjay Dutt has had a tumultuous career in Bollywood, having been involved in various legal disputes. He was detained because he was in possession of an AK-56 rifle and a 9 mm pistol. The AK-56 was part of a shipment of weapons and explosives smuggled into India in order to carry out the Mumbai bombings. When he was captured and sentenced to five years in prison for illegally possessing weaponry since 1993, it came back to bite him.

Coming from a powerful famous family has its advantages, especially when it comes to getting out of prison! Fardeen Khan was detained in 2001 after being charged with illegal cocaine purchase, despite his assertion of “private consumption only.” Because of his ‘connections,’ he was granted not just bail in five days, but also immunity from prosecution.