Model-turned actor Shayan Munshi, a key witness in the sensational Jessica Lal murder case, was arrested on Saturday at the Kolkata airport.
Jessica's real culprits are those who didn't speak up
However, he was later granted bail by a district court, which directed him not to leave the country.
Munshi, who had turned hostile during the high-profile murder trial, was apprehended by officers of the immigration department at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport when he turned up to complete formalities before boarding a Bangkok-bound Indian flight.
He was arrested on the basis of a Delhi police lookout notice while trying to leave the country alongwith his family, North 24 Parganas Superintendent of Police Ranvir Kumar said.
Munshi was handed over to the Airport police and later produced before the Barrackpore Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate. Magistrate Gopal Karmakar, after hearing both the prosecution and Munshi's lawyer, granted him bail on a surety of Rs 5,000.
Munshi was also asked to surrender his passport at the Airport police station.
Munshi's production was delayed by some hours for obtaining a copy of the Delhi High Court order that rejected Munshi's plea for lifting the lookout notice, police said.
Ramp model Jessica Lal was shot dead at the Tamarind Court, a restaurant owned by socialite Bina Ramani, in South Delhi on the night of April 29-30, 1999.
During the course of the seven-year long trial, three key eyewitnesses , including Shayan Munshi, had turned hostile, which dented the prosecution's case considerably.
A trial court had acquitted two key accused Manu Sharma -- the son of a Haryana minister -- and former Rajya Sabha parliamentarian D P Yadav's son Vikas Yadav and seven others of all charges in the murder of the model.
After the Delhi police moved the Delhi High Court in the case on March 13 against the trial court verdict, the High Court on March 24 refused to quash or grant an interim stay on the 'look-out notices' issued by the police in the capital against all the witnesses in the case.
Complete coverage: Jessica Lal murder case