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MUMBAI: A special CBI court rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Sam D’Souza, co-accused with IRS officer Sameer Wankhede in an alleged extortion case, on Wednesday, saying custodial interrogation of the accused is necessary considering the seriousness of the offence.
Referring to the CBI’s submissions, the court said Sanville Adrian D’Souza alias Sam and another accused Kiran Gosavi entered into a conspiracy to extort Rs 25 crore from actor Shah Rukh Khan for not making his son Aryan an accused in the cruise ship drug bust by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in October 2021.
The court noted the matter was allegedly settled for Rs 18 crore. A token of Rs 50 lakh was taken by D’Souza and Gosavi and then a part of it was returned. Moreover, the CBI had claimed Siddharth Shah, who had allegedly supplied charas to Arbaaz Merchant, an accused in the cruise drug bust, was allowed to walk free by an NCB officer. Gosavi, the court again noted, was present in the raiding team as if he was an NCB officer.
The CBI had filed an FIR on May 11 against Wankhede, former zonal director of NCB in Mumbai, two other officers, informant D’Souza and witness Gosavi for the Rs 25-crore demand for not initiating action against Aryan.
During arguments opposing D’Souza’s plea, special public prosecutors P K B Gaikwad and Ashish Bilgaiyan submitted on Monday that high profile persons were involved in the case, and to unearth the larger conspiracy, custodial interrogation of the accused was required. “Accused has not mentioned reasonable grounds that he has been falsely implicated,” the prosecution’s reply said.
It was pointed out that the accused failed to join the investigation even after notices on May 24 and 26. The prosecution stressed that the accused had entered into a criminal conspiracy to extort Rs 25 crore. In his plea submitted on May 30, D’Souza said the contents of the FIR were false.
Referring to the CBI’s submissions, the court said Sanville Adrian D’Souza alias Sam and another accused Kiran Gosavi entered into a conspiracy to extort Rs 25 crore from actor Shah Rukh Khan for not making his son Aryan an accused in the cruise ship drug bust by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in October 2021.
The court noted the matter was allegedly settled for Rs 18 crore. A token of Rs 50 lakh was taken by D’Souza and Gosavi and then a part of it was returned. Moreover, the CBI had claimed Siddharth Shah, who had allegedly supplied charas to Arbaaz Merchant, an accused in the cruise drug bust, was allowed to walk free by an NCB officer. Gosavi, the court again noted, was present in the raiding team as if he was an NCB officer.
The CBI had filed an FIR on May 11 against Wankhede, former zonal director of NCB in Mumbai, two other officers, informant D’Souza and witness Gosavi for the Rs 25-crore demand for not initiating action against Aryan.
During arguments opposing D’Souza’s plea, special public prosecutors P K B Gaikwad and Ashish Bilgaiyan submitted on Monday that high profile persons were involved in the case, and to unearth the larger conspiracy, custodial interrogation of the accused was required. “Accused has not mentioned reasonable grounds that he has been falsely implicated,” the prosecution’s reply said.
It was pointed out that the accused failed to join the investigation even after notices on May 24 and 26. The prosecution stressed that the accused had entered into a criminal conspiracy to extort Rs 25 crore. In his plea submitted on May 30, D’Souza said the contents of the FIR were false.
#prearrest #bail #Sam #DSouza #coaccused #Sameer #Wankhede #India #News
