New Delhi: The CBI on Tuesday questioned Sanville alias Sam D’Souza in connection with alleged bribe demand of Rs 25 crore from actor Shah Rukh Khan for not implicating his son Aryan Khan in the 2021 Cordelia cruise drug bust case, officials said.
The agency had given a third notice to D’Souza last week to appear for questioning at its Delhi office, they said. He has not yet been questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the case which was registered by the agency on May 12.
D’Souza is listed as accused number 5 in the CBI FIR. “The CBI issued him a notice on June 16 to appear before it for questioning. He will appear before the officer in Delhi on June 20,” D’Souza’s lawyer Pankaj Jadhav told.
His plea before the Special CBI Court in Mumbai seeking anticipatory bail was turned down. Former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director Sameer Wankhede, the main accused in the case, has been granted interim protection by the Bombay High Court till June 23.
The CBI has alleged that D’Souza had brokered a deal between Shah Rukh’s manager and witness K P Gosavi for helping Aryan in the case.
Aryan Khan was arrested by the NCB on October 3, 2021, a day after the NCB raid on Cordelia cruise ship. He was granted bail by the Bombay High Court on October 28, 2021 after spending 25 days in jail.