Sam D’Souza, whose name had cropped up in connection with the pay-off allegations surrounding the Cordelia cruise ship raid, has alleged that no drugs were found on Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan. However, he indicated a trail of money transfers.
D’Souza, who was seen in a viral video of Aryan Khan with witness Kiran Gosavi, claimed that he was innocent while speaking to local TV news channels.
Even though D’Souza’s name does not figure in the list of nine independent witnesses in the case, he seems to know many of them.
“Kiran Gosavi told me that no drugs were found on Aryan… he told me that we can help him,” D’Souza claimed. He further said that Gosavi, Shah Rukh Khan’s manager Pooja Dadlani, her husband and a man called Chikki Pandey had met at Lower Parel area of Mumbai. “Later I came to know through a man called Sunil Patil that a token amount of Rs 50 lakh is being paid,” he said.
When asked more about Patil, he said that he was a “power broker”.
Sam D’Souza's name also emerged in NCB's witness Prabhakar Sail’s affidavit. Sail had stated in a notarised affidavit that he overheard Gosavi and D'Souza say that "you put a bomb of Rs 25 crore, let's settle for Rs 18 crore and give 8 crore to Sameer Wankhede.”
Sail claimed that Gosavi directed him to collect Rs 50 lakh from a spot near Indiana Hotel and asked him to give the bags to D’Souza near Trident Hotel, where he discovered that it contained Rs 38 lakh. Sail further stated that he has seen Dadlani talking to Gosavi.
Aryan Khan’s legal team have distanced themselves from the statement of witness Prabhakar Sail, who has claimed about pay-offs.
The issue has snowballed into a major controversy involving NCB’s Mumbai Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede.
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