Mumbai Police on Wednesday had summoned Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan's manager Pooja Dadlani for questioning in the extortion case being probed by it but she did not appear before them citing health reasons. Her summons comes days after Aryan Khan was granted bail by the bombay High Court in the Mumbai cruise drugs bust case.
"Her statement is important for SIT and in the time to come, we'll summon her again for questioning," Mumbai Police was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
She had earlier been issued summons by the SIT. However, she said she was "not well" and did not appear before the team. If she does not approach the Mumbai Police herself, she is likely to be summoned by the SIT for the second time in the next few days.
The Mumbai Police's SIT is probing the allegations of extortion that have been levelled against NCB zonal unit director Sameer Wankhede in the course of the investigation into the Mumbai cruise drugs case.
Sources in the Mumbai Police stated that Pooja Dadlani's statement is extremely important in the case. The legal aspects of the matter are being examined, they said.
SRK's manager who was often spotted outside the Narcotics Control Bureau office when Aryan Khan was in jail is significant for the investigation.
This is the special investigation team of the Mumbai Police conducting a parallel probe into the extortion allegations against the NCB team in teh Aryan Khan case. The SIT has also sought the CCTV footage of NCB's South Mumbai offices, reports said.
According to various conflicting accounts given by Prabhakar Sail, Sam D'Souza, names which have surfaced in the past few days in connection with the Aryan Khan case, the extortion demand was made to SRK's manager Pooja Dadlani. Sam D'Souza claimed Pooja Dadlani even paid ₹50 lakh to KP Gosavi as she was promised that Gosavi could ensure Aryan Khan's release from NCB detention, before he was arrested on October 3. D'Souza claimed he returned the money to Pooja Dadlani after Aryan was arrested.
While the drugs case is now under an SIT of the NCB, the Mumbai Police are looking into the extortion angle raised by Prabhakar Sail, a former aide of KP Gosavi. Sail claimed he overheard a conversation between Gosavi and D'Souza about a payoff of Rs18 crore from Shah Rukh Khan to secure Aryan Khan's release.
