Cordelia drugs case: CBI calls model Munmun Dhamecha for questioning

The CBI has summoned model Munmun Dhamecha for questioning in the corruption charges against former NCB officials in the Cordelia cruise drugs bust case.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has summoned model Munmun Dhamecha for questioning as part of its probe into corruption charges against the then Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officials and others in connection with the Cordelia cruise drugs bust case.

Munmun Dhamecha (HT Photo)

Confirming the development, Dhamecha’s lawyer Kashif Khan said she had been asked to appear before the investigating officer at the CBI headquarters in New Delhi on Thursday. The agency will also record her statement at her residence in the capital, Khan added.

Dhamecha, along with Aryan Khan, son of actor Shah Rukh Khan, and Arbaaz Merchant, was arrested by the NCB following a raid on the ship on October 3, 2021. A special enquiry team of the agency later let off Aryan.

The CBI on May 11, 2023, registered an FIR against Sameer Wankhede, NCB’s the then Mumbai zonal director, Vishwa Vijay Singh, the then NCB superintendent, Ashish Ranjan, NCB’s the then intelligence officer, and two private individuals - Kiran P Gosavi, a panch witness in the case, and Sanville D’Souza.

The five are accused of conspiring to extort ₹25 crore from Shah Rukh Khan in exchange for not booking his son in the drugs case and subsequently obtaining a bribe of ₹50 lakh from him.

Acting on a tip-off, Wankhede and his team had on October 2, 2021, searched passengers on board the Goa-bound Cordellia at the International Cruise Terminal in Mumbai and their rooms booked on the cruise ship. The agency claimed to have seized drugs like cocaine, mephedrone, charas, and pills of MDMA (ecstasy) and ₹1.33 lakh in cash.

NCB officials claimed that they had found 5 grams of hashish in the room booked in the model’s name. Dhamecha, 28, had on May 1, 2023, moved a discharge plea in the special NDPS (the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act) court claiming that she was not found in possession of the narcotic substance, nor was she found to have consumed it. Dhamecha further claimed that the officials found some drugs on the other girl who was to share the room with her, but she was let off. The prosecution is yet to file a reply to her plea.