Ramesh Chhotelal and his three cronies were released from police custody at the Crime Branch headquarters at Crawford Market today. Their sole regret: being separated from their cell-mate for the past five days, Salman Khan.While the four convicts were released on bail by the Esplanade Court on Monday afternoon, Khan too moved out of the cell—only to be taken to the Arthur Road jail where he is being held in judicial custody after his second bail application was rejected.The 37-year-old actor was in police custody for a week after he was arrested on October 7 and charged under Section 304 (Part-II) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). His cell-mates were arrested on the same day and have been charged under the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act, 1981. Despite the oh-so-fleeting encounter, Chhotelal and his friends say that the last five days were among the most exciting in their lives. ‘‘Salman Khan is a very nice person. I had never dreamt I would ever talk to him, let alone sleep next to him,’’ beamed Chhotelal as he walked out of the Esplanade Court. ‘‘Immediately after his arrest, Salman was kept in a separate cell. It was only later that he was placed in our cell. At first, he was very reluctant to talk to us and largely kept to himself but later he started chatting with us,’’ said Chhotelal, a waiter at a hotel at Goregaon. Chhotelal’s friend Mistry added, ‘‘I couldn’t believe that Salman shared the lock-up with us. For the first two days, he neither ate nor visited the toilet. But once he opened up, he would talk to us for hours together. He told us about his shoots, jokes, he recited some shayris.’’When the actor wasn’t talking or resting, he was working out, they said. ‘‘He did lots of sit-ups, push-ups and pull-ups on the door frame,’’ said Mistry. ‘‘Salman is not one bit ghamandi (proud). He was so friendly he has given us his residence telephone numbers.’’But despite the camaraderie and banter, the actor made sure he set aside time for the Almighty. ‘‘Holding his prayer beads, he used to say his prayers regularly,’’ said Chhotelal.
