The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on June 20 questioned an accused, Sanvile D’Souza, in connection with the 2021 cruise ship case in which Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan was arrested, but never charged.
“Mr. D’Souza was summoned to the CBI headquarters in Delhi for questioning. He has been told to join the probe again on Wednesday,” said an agency official.
In May, the CBI searched several locations in Mumbai, Delhi, Ranchi, Lucknow, Chennai and Guwahati after registering a case for corruption against former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) official Sameer Wankhede and four others.
In the First Information Report (FIR), it was alleged that Mr. Wankhede and two other officials committed serious irregularities owing to which an “independent witness” in the cruise ship case allegedly conspired with others to extort ₹25 crore from Mr. Aryan’s family.
In its complaint to the CBI, the NCB alleged that after receiving information about drug use on the Cordelia Cruise ship on October 2, 2021, Mr. Wankhede and then superintendent Vishwa Vijay Singh constituted a team to conduct a search operation.
The then intelligence officer, Ashish Ranjan Prasad, was made the investigating officer, while accused Kiran Gosavi and Prabhakar Sail were roped in as “independent witnesses”.
Following allegations of corruption against the officials, the NCB initiated an inquiry and found that names of certain suspects had allegedly been dropped from the first information note and those of some others included. Several passengers were searched at the departure gate of the Mumbai Port Trust, but as alleged, the search details of some suspects were not documented and they were allowed to leave.
The inquiry revealed that the accused were brought to the NCB office in Mr. Gosavi’s vehicle. It appeared that his presence with the accused persons was allowed intentionally so as to project him as an NCB staffer. During the whole process, he took selfies with Mr. Aryan and also allegedly recorded a voice note.
The FIR alleged that all this helped Mr. Gosavi and his accomplice, Mr. D’ Souza, among others plan an extortion bid by threatening to frame him for possession of drugs. The amount was scaled down to ₹18 crore and a token of ₹50 lakh taken by Mr. Gosavi and his aide, but later a part of it was returned.
On October 2, 2021, the NCB team led by Mr. Wankhede raided the ship and arrested 20 persons, including Mr. Aryan. He spent 22 days in judicial custody before he was released on bail by the Bombay High Court. The NCB did not chargesheet him and five others. The agency said no drugs had been found on him.
