As Aniket got home at Worli koliwada, neighbours thronged to catch a glimpse of him, many curious about his days in Iran, especially time spent in prison.
Aniket joined MV Artin10 in 2019. On February 21, 2020, Aniket and four others were taken into custody after the Iranian navy intercepted their vessel and seized 1. 5 tonnes of morphine from a bag on board the vessel. This happened weeks before the Indians were slated to disembark and leave for India. The other four—all from lower-middle-class families — who also returned on Friday include Aniket’s cousin, Mandar Worlikar (28) who is also from Mumbai besides Pranav Tiwari (21) from Patna, Naveen Singh (23) from Delhi and Thamizh Selvan (31) from Chennai. The ship’s master, Captain M Rasool Gharebi, was among the others taken into custody. While the captain confessed to having brought the drug on board, the others were acquitted by a court in Iran.