Mumbai drug case: Aryan Khan to stay in custody, Ananya Panday leaves NCB after questioning

Mumbai’s Special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) court on October 21 extended the judicial custody of Aryan Khan and others until October 30 in connection with the cruise ship drug case. Earlier on October 20, the special court refused to grant bail to Aryan and two others in connection with the seizure of drugs.

Following this, Aryan moved a bail application in the Bombay High Court against the NDPS court order on his bail rejection. On October 21, the Bombay High Court said that it would hear Aryan’s bail application on October 26.

The entire case stems from when an NCB team busted an alleged drug party on the Cordelia Cruise ship that was on its way to Goa from Mumbai on October 2. A total of 20 people have been arrested so far in the case, including Aryan, the son on Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan.

Also on October 21, teams from NBC paid a formal ‘visit’ to the residences of Shah Rukh in Bandra west (pictured), and actress Ananya Panday in Khar west, and raided a location in Andheri as part of the probe.

“The NCB Mumbai Zonal Unit officials visited ‘Mannat’, the residence of Aryan Khan in connection with the (Cr.94/21 case) for seeking certain material related to the investigation of the case from Shah Rukh Khan, by following due procedure of notice, etc,” said NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede in a statement. He dismissed reports dubbing the NCB trip to the superstar’s sea-facing bungalow as a “raid”.

The development came hours after Shah Rukh met Aryan at the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai for the first time since the latter’s arrest. He met his son for about 10 minutes, according to sources. A large number of mediapersons and local residents had gathered outside the prison when the actor arrived.

After her home was raided, Ananya Panday — daughter of Bollywood actor Chunky Panday and granddaughter of the renowned heart surgeon, the late Dr Sharad Panday — arrived at the NCB offices after being summoned for the probe. She was accompanied by her father Chunky.

“We summoned her today. Her residence was raided, we can’t say what all was seized,” said Ashok Mutha Jain, NCB DDG, at the time. The NCB has claimed that her name apparently figures in some WhatsApp chats of Aryan recovered by the agency, along with others. Reports claim that Ananya’s mobile phone and laptop were seized, however the NCB has declined to make any comments.

Ananya, 22, made her Bollywood debut with the 2019 film ‘Student of the Year 2’ and has starred in a few other movies such as ‘Khaali Peeli’ and ‘Pati Patni Aur Woh’. She is close friends with Aryan and his sister Suhana Khan. The actress often features in social media pictures with Suhana.