Sam D'Souza, a witness in the high-profile drugs-on-cruise case, has filed a petition in the Bombay High Court, accusing him of pressuring him to change his statement over Aryan Khan. D'Souza has made serious allegations against the NCB's Special Investigation Team (SET) in the petition. In the petition, D'Souza has claimed that Shah Rukh Khan went to the SET office in Delhi, after which, he was pressured to implicate Sameer Wankhede. However, he refused to succumb to pressure. Mumbai: Investigating officer Ashish Ranjan and former Zonal Director of Narcotics Control Bureau Mumbai Sameer Wankhede have been accused of trying to extort Rs 25 crore from actor Shah Rukh Khan in exchange for Aryan Khan's release. Sameer Wankhede had arrested Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan in a drugs case in October 2021. However, the NCB later gave a clean chit to Aryan Khan and claimed to have found shortcomings in the investigation of Wankhede.
Sam D'Souza is a witness in this entire case. He was the first to inform NCB officials about the drugs party on the cruise. On October 1, D'Souza had told an NCB official about the drugs party on the cruise, after which, the NCB had said that he also had some inputs, if there is any extra information, then tell me. Subsequently, D'Souza had sent some numbers along with Cruz's photographs, after which the NCB believed his words. Only after that the raid was carried out. Sources also said that to help in the raid, Sam D'Souza had introduced KP Gosavi and Prabhakar to NCB officials, saying that these two would help. On October 2, Gosavi and Prabhakar met NCB officials and told them that they had come directly from Ahmedabad to assist in this raid. However, after the raid, questions were raised about Gosavi, Prabhakar and Sam and the entire raid action came into question.
Now Sam D'Souza has filed a petition in the Bombay High Court. Apart from the allegations against DDG Dnyaneshwar Singh, it mentions a conspiracy at the SET office in Delhi. Sam D'Souza has claimed that Shah Rukh reached the SET office in Delhi on November 7, 2021. According to the petition, D'Souza's friend Vijay Pratap Singh is an eyewitness to Shah Rukh Khan's visit to the SET office in Delhi. After that meeting, SET started putting pressure on Sam D'Souza and insisted on giving a statement that he and KP Gosavi were acting at the behest and instructions of Sameer Wankhede and demanding Rs. 25 crore from Shah Rukh Khan. He was also physically and mentally tortured. Even after that, he refused to make such a statement. Sam D'Souza, a co-accused in the Aryan Khan extortion case, has not been granted protection from arrest by the Bombay High Court. His plea for interim protection from arrest was rejected, following which, Sam D'Souza's plea has been withdrawn from the High Court. He can now approach the Sessions Court for anticipatory bail.
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