Samville D’Souza, who came to limelight following arrest of Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan (SRK), in Cordelia cruise drug case, has approached Bombay High Court seeking pre-arrest bail.
In his plea before the HC, D’Souza has claimed that Narcotics Control Bureau’s (NCB) star witness Kiran Gosavi took Rs 50 lakh from SRK’s manger Pooja Dadlani to get Aryan released on October 2. However, the money was returned after Aryan was arrested by the NCB. He has even said that Gosavi claimed that no drug was found in Aryan Khan's possession and that the 23-year-old was innocent.
After controversies surfaced in the case, the Maharashtra government has set up a Special Investigation Team to probe the case.
Apprehending arrest in the case, he has sought pre-arrest bail before the HC. D’Souza has said in his plea that “The applicant (D’Souza) has apprehension that he may be arrested by this SIT and hence is seeking pre-arrest bail and interim protection from arrest.” He has prayed that he be given a notice of three days before any coercive action is taken against him.
In the application, D'Souza has said he is falsely being implicated and that Gosavi and Sail are the main conspirators and frauds.
D’Souza has claimed that he later learnt that there were allegations of corruption and extortion against an NCB official and others including himself and that a deal of Rs 18 crore was made for the release of a prominent accused (Aryan Khan).
On October 2, D’Souza has said in his application, that he was informed by an acquaintance about the NCB detaining an influential person following which he went to the cruise terminal gate where he met Gosavi and Manish Bhanushali.
Gosavi then informed him that the NCB had detained Aryan and that the 23-year-old wanted to speak with his father’s manager Pooja Dadlani.
His application reads, “Kiran Gosavi revealed that Aryan Khan had no drug in his possession and he was innocent. Kiran Gosavi convinced me that he could help Aryan Khan get relief and asked me to connect with Pooja Dadlani.”
D’Souza then connected with Dadlani through a mutual friend and met her at Lower Parel along with Gosavi.
“Gosavi showed her (Dadlani) a list in which Aryan Khan’s name was not present and informed her that Aryan Khan did not have any drugs on him and that he can help him get out of this situation,” adds D’Souza’s application.
D’Souza has claimed that he then left so as to give Gosavi and Dadlani privacy and hence was not part of their discussion.
He has further claimed that he was shocked to learn about Aryan’s arrest the next day.
According to D’Souza, his acquaintance Sunil Patil informed him that Gosavi had taken Rs 50 lakh from Dadlani through his bodyguard Sail, who is also a witness in the case.
D’Souza’s plea reads, “Gosavi and Sail are fraud and the main conspirators in the case. After coming to know about this, the applicant’s only motive was to recover the money and save his own image. Thereafter, he recovered the money and returned the same to Pooja Dadlani through her husband.”
The application is likely to be mentioned before the holiday bench of the high court next week seeking urgent hearing.
D’Souza was named by Gosavi’s bodyguard Prabhakar Sail. The bodyguard had earlier filed an affidavit claiming that he overheard Gosavi speaking to one “Sam” to broker a deal for Rs 25 crore and then settle for Rs 18 crore. Sail had further alleged that Gosavi told the person on the other end of the phone that they have to pay Rs 8 crore to NCB’s zonal director Sameer Wankhede.
Gosavi is presently in the custody of the Pune police in connection with a cheating case.
Last week, Wankhede had approached the high court seeking protective orders. The Maharashtra government had then assured the court that it would give Wankhede three days advance notice if it plans to take any coercive action against him.
