The High Court of Bombay on Thursday granted bail to Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, and two other suspects in a drugs case that has become mired in political controversy.
Mr Khan, 23, and seven others were arrested on October 2 after undercover agents from the Narcotics Control Bureau raided a cruise boat sailing off India's west coast from Mumbai city to the resort state of Goa.
He was being held in Mumbai’s high-security Arthur Road jail after several unsuccessful bail applications.
Last week, a lower court rejected Mr Khan's bail petition after observing that his WhatsApp chats appeared to link him to drug suppliers and peddlers.
The high court overturned that decision after a three-day hearing. He is likely to be freed only after bail conditions are set on Friday.
The court also granted bail to two other suspects arrested in the boat raid, all of whom are accused of sale, consumption, procuring banned substances, and conspiracy under India’s drug laws. Another 13 suspects were arrested in the following weeks.
The NCB claimed to have recovered small quantities of cocaine, mephedrone, marijuana, and ecstasy pills during the raid, although no drugs were found on Mr Khan, according to court documents.
Mr Khan denies all the charges. But the bureau claims to have found incriminating WhatsApp conversations on his mobile phone, linking him to an international drug ring and said his release would harm the investigation.
Prosecutors have been focusing on the conspiracy charges – a provision of the anti-drug law that presumes an accused person guilty unless they prove their innocence. Convicts face minimum jail terms of 10 years.
Mr Khan’s father Shah Rukh, 55, is a Bollywood megastar. He did not attend any of his son's bail hearings or make a public statement but visited him once in jail.
The actor – known as King Khan – has remained a non-controversial figure throughout his three-decade career and has received widespread support from fans.
His son’s arrest also stirred a public debate about narcotics use and laws in India, with growing calls for decriminalising personal drug use.
Consumption and trade of narcotics such as cannabis, opioids and psychotropic drugs are illegal in India but government estimates from 2019 say more than 61 million people were consuming hard and soft drugs.
While many people support the narcotics agency and criticised the film star over his son’s involvement in the case, key prosecution witnesses in the case have turned hostile and accused the NCB officer leading the investigation, Sameer Wankhede, of trying to extort money from the actor.
The witness, Prabhakar Sail, in a written statement to the court, said he overheard his employer, Kiran P Gosavi, a private detective and another witness in the case – discussing pay-offs of 250 million rupees ($3.34m) – out of which 80 million rupees were earmarked for Mr Wankhede.
Mr Gosavi, who was arrested on Thursday by Maharashtra police in a separate fraud case, had posted a selfie with Mr Khan at the NCB office.
Videos of him and another prosecution witness, Manish Bhanushali, a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party, escorting Mr Khan and co-accused Arbaaz Merchant to the bureau’s Mumbai office went viral on social media and raised suspicions about their role.
Mr Sail claimed that he was forced to sign blank documents by the officer and made a witness in the case, after which he received death threats from unknown people.
The bureau told a Mumbai court on Tuesday that Mr Sail’s extortion allegations were influenced by Pooja Dadlani, the actor’s manager.
Mr Wankhede and Mr Gosavi have denied the allegations. The NCB has ordered an internal investigation.
Mr Wankhede faces possible arrest after Mumbai Police launched a bribery investigation against him. He has said the allegations were an attempt to “create hurdles and scuttle the investigation" in the drug case.
He accused the state government of trying to implicate him after a minister, Nawab Malik, claimed that the officer was involved in forgery and extortion.
Last year, Mr Malik’s son-in-law was arrested by the officer over drug charges.
The case has also triggered a political tussle between Maharashtra’s ruling alliance and a federal agency controlled by Mr Modi’s government.
The bureau has faced flak over allegations that it was deliberately targeting film personalities to undermine the state government and show Mumbai, home to the Bollywood industry, as a drug haven.
But several leaders and supporters of Mr Modi’s party allege that the state government is soft on drug abuse and shields drug cartels.
Mr Wankhede was at the centre of a controversy last year involving the arrest of the actress Rhea Chakraborty after the death of her boyfriend and actor Sushant Singh Rajput following an alleged history of drug abuse.
His death brought to the fore the alleged abuse in the industry and the agency’s crackdown, including questioning of top actresses.
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
Teams
Punjabi Legends Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan
Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
Timeline October 25: Around 120 players to be entered into a draft, to be held in Dubai; December 21: Matches start; December 24: Finals
Volunteers offer workers a lifeline
Community volunteers have swung into action delivering food packages and toiletries to the men.
When provisions are distributed, the men line up in long queues for packets of rice, flour, sugar, salt, pulses, milk, biscuits, shaving kits, soap and telecom cards.
Volunteers from St Mary’s Catholic Church said some workers came to the church to pray for their families and ask for assistance.
Boxes packed with essential food items were distributed to workers in the Dubai Investments Park and Ras Al Khaimah camps last week. Workers at the Sonapur camp asked for Dh1,600 towards their gas bill.
“Especially in this year of tolerance we consider ourselves privileged to be able to lend a helping hand to our needy brothers in the Actco camp," Father Lennie Connully, parish priest of St Mary’s.
Workers spoke of their helplessness, seeing children’s marriages cancelled because of lack of money going home. Others told of their misery of being unable to return home when a parent died.
“More than daily food, they are worried about not sending money home for their family,” said Kusum Dutta, a volunteer who works with the Indian consulate.
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
Company%20profile
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What is cyberbullying?
Cyberbullying or online bullying could take many forms such as sending unkind or rude messages to someone, socially isolating people from groups, sharing embarrassing pictures of them, or spreading rumors about them.
Cyberbullying can take place on various platforms such as messages, on social media, on group chats, or games.
Parents should watch out for behavioural changes in their children.
When children are being bullied they they may be feel embarrassed and isolated, so parents should watch out for signs of signs of depression and anxiety
Huroob Ezterari
Director: Ahmed Moussa
Starring: Ahmed El Sakka, Amir Karara, Ghada Adel and Moustafa Mohammed
Three stars
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday (all kick-offs UAE time)
Hertha Berlin v Union Berlin (10.30pm)
Saturday
Freiburg v Werder Bremen (5.30pm)
Paderborn v Hoffenheim (5.30pm)
Wolfsburg v Borussia Dortmund (5.30pm)
Borussia Monchengladbach v Bayer Leverkusen (5.30pm)
Bayern Munich v Eintracht Frankfurt (5.30pm)
Sunday
Schalke v Augsburg (3.30pm)
Mainz v RB Leipzig (5.30pm)
Cologne v Fortuna Dusseldorf (8pm)
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten
Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a month before Reaching the Last Mile.
Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Queen
Nicki Minaj
(Young Money/Cash Money)
THE%20STRANGERS'%20CASE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20Brandt%20Andersen%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EOmar%20Sy%2C%20Jason%20Beghe%2C%20Angeliki%20Papoulia%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UAE SQUAD FOR ASIAN JIU-JITSU CHAMPIONSHIP
Men’s squad: Faisal Al Ketbi, Omar Al Fadhli, Zayed Al Kathiri, Thiab Al Nuaimi, Khaled Al Shehhi, Mohamed Ali Al Suwaidi, Farraj Khaled Al Awlaqi, Muhammad Al Ameri, Mahdi Al Awlaqi, Saeed Al Qubaisi, Abdullah Al Qubaisi and Hazaa Farhan
Women's squad: Hamda Al Shekheili, Shouq Al Dhanhani, Balqis Abdullah, Sharifa Al Namani, Asma Al Hosani, Maitha Sultan, Bashayer Al Matrooshi, Maha Al Hanaei, Shamma Al Kalbani, Haya Al Jahuri, Mahra Mahfouz, Marwa Al Hosani, Tasneem Al Jahoori and Maryam Al Amri
What are the GCSE grade equivalents?
- Grade 9 = above an A*
- Grade 8 = between grades A* and A
- Grade 7 = grade A
- Grade 6 = just above a grade B
- Grade 5 = between grades B and C
- Grade 4 = grade C
- Grade 3 = between grades D and E
- Grade 2 = between grades E and F
- Grade 1 = between grades F and G
