Ahmed Ali & Mateen Hafeez | TNN (THE TIMES OF INDIA; October 22, 2021)

Mumbai: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) probing the case of drugs seizure on a cruise liner involving actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan questioned actor Chunky Panday’s actor-daughter Ananya Panday for around four hours on Thursday and seized her laptop and cell phone. Sources said two more celebrities are likely to be called by the NCB in the coming days for questioning.

The questioning happened hours after, earlier in the morning, actor Shah Rukh Khan met his son Aryan inside the ‘mulaqat’ room of Arthur Road jail. Shah Rukh spoke to him for 15 minutes via an intercom phone placed on both sides of a glass wall.

In another development, an NCB team on Thursday visited Shah Rukh’s bungalow Mannat in Bandra in connection with the Aryan Khan case. They said they had gone to seek some documents related to the case. NCB deputy director Ashok Mutha Jain clarified that there was no raid at Mannat.

Ananya Panday was questioned after her name cropped up in WhatsApp chats with Aryan, officials said. Officials also carried out a search of Panday’s house.

Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court on Thursday said it would hear Aryan’s bail application on October 26. His lawyers had filed a bail plea in the high court in appeal soon after a special NDPS court on Wednesday denied him bail. The bail pleas of two other accused, Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha, were also rejected on Wednesday.

The custody of Aryan, Merchant and Dhamecha was extended by the special court to October 30 on Thursday.
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Mumbai: On the first day of physical meetings being allowed after a gap of one-and-a-half years between prisoners and their relatives, actor Shah Rukh Khan on Thursday morning met his son Aryan inside the ‘mulaqat’ room of Arthur Road Jail and spoke to him for 15 minutes. The actor spoke to Aryan using an intercom phone, placed on both sides of a glass wall. The wall divides the visitors and prisoners. The entire conversation took place in the presence of jail police personnel.

In another development, an NCB team on Thursday visited SRK’s bungalow Mannat in Bandra in connection with the drugs case. They said that they had gone to seek some documents related to the Aryan Khan case. NCB deputy director Ashok Mutha Jain clarified that there was no raid at Mannat. “We had gone there as part of procedural requirement pertaining to the case,” Mutha told reporters.

Shah Rukh Khan’s meeting with his son was his first since Aryan’s arrest on October 3.

“There are 24 phone sets in the room where relatives/visitors can talk to inmates using intercom phones,” said an Arthur Road jail officer. Khan visited the jail at around 9 am; Aryan has been there for the last two weeks. Shah Rukh Khan registered himself in the ‘mulaqat’ register before meeting Aryan.

The conversation between father-son went on for 15 minutes. Jail police personnel are present in the ‘mulaqat’ room when a visitor talks to an inmate. Only Khan from his family had come to meet the 23-year-old. Aryan had last week spoken to his mother Gauri and his father through video call, a facility provided to inmates by jail authorities during the pandemic when physical meetings had been stopped.

Khan was escorted to the ‘mulaqat’ room from the passage which is used by all visitors. Soon after news spread of his arrival at the jail to meet his son, people thronged to get a glimpse of the actor, and media crews surrounded him. He left in his car shortly after meeting Aryan.

A family member can visit his relative in the jail every week. For registration to meet an inmate, an identity proof, relationship with the inmate and purpose of visit must be written in the ‘mulaqat’ register.

Khan’s family had last week also sent Rs 4,500 through money order to Aryan in the jail. As per the jail manual, an inmate can use this money (in the form of coupons) to buy stuff from the jail canteen.

Aryan Khan and the other accused in the case were arrested on October 3. They were initially sent to NCB custody till October 4; it was later extended to October 7. He was sent to judicial custody on October 7 and has been lodged in Arthur Road jail since then.