#MumbaiDrugBust: SRK's manager fails to appear before Mumbai Police SIT
A special investigation team (SIT) of the Mumbai Police had summoned Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's manager, Pooja Dadlani, in relation to extortion investigation in the Cordelia Cruises drug bust case. She had allegedly paid the extortion money to KP Gosavi for the release of SRK's son Aryan. However, Dadlani failed to appear before the team on Monday, citing "health issues," as per reports.
Why does it matter?
Dadlani, King Khan's longtime manager, became a key figure in Aryan's case after Prabhakar Sail, an independent witness of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), claimed she was directly involved in extortion. He alleged that Gosavi and Sam D'Souza had a meeting with Dadlani on October 3, the day Aryan was arrested. Reportedly, she was finally summoned after police found CCTV evidence of this meeting.
D'Souza claimed Dadlani had paid Rs. 50L for Aryan's release
Earlier this month, D'Souza had approached Bombay High Court with an anticipatory bail plea, saying he had merely facilitated the meeting between Gosavi and Dadlani, conducted to help release the 23-year-old. He claimed Dadlani had paid Rs. 50L but the money was returned after he realized both Gosavi and Sail, who had promised to prevent Aryan's arrest, were frauds. D'Souza's application was rejected later.
SIT had previously summoned Chikky Panday, who also didn't appear
Connecting the dots, Mumbai Police had also sent out summons to actor Chunky Panday's brother Chikky recently. Apparently, it was Chikky who had helped Gosavi contact Dadlani. But he also did not appear before the police citing a positive COVID-19 report. To recall, NCB had conducted raids at Panday's daughter/actress Ananya Panday's residence too, calling her for multiple rounds of interrogation.
A separate SIT is investigating Aryan Khan drug case
Notably, Mumbai Police had formed this SIT based on Sail's complaint against NCB's Sameer Wankhede, others getting involved in extortion. This team, led by ACP Milind Khetle, will look into the extortion angle in the drug case. They have recorded the statements of 15 persons till now. Separately, NCB's SIT, led by Deputy Director General (Operations) Sanjay Kumar Singh, is heading the drug case.
