Cruise drug bust case: Sam D’souza withdraws petition seeking quashing of CBI FIR

Sanville D'souza, the fifth accused in the CBI FIR related to the alleged extortion demand of INR25 crore from Shah Rukh Khan, has withdrawn his petition seeking quashing of the FIR. D'souza, one of the witnesses in the Cordelia drug case, had sought interim protection at par with Sameer Wankhede, the former Mumbai zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau. The court refused to grant relief to D'souza, who is a private citizen. He is the third accused to approach the HC seeking interim protection from no coercive action by the CBI.

Mumbai: Sanville alias Sam D’souza, who is the fifth accused in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR of May 11 pertaining to the alleged extortion demand of ₹25 crore from actor Shah Rukh Khan for not registering a case against his son Aryan Khan in the Cordelia drug bust, on Friday withdrawn his petition before the Bombay high court seeking quashing of the FIR.

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D’Souza, one of the witnesses in the Cordelia case, had claimed in the petition filed on May 24 that there was only a line in the FIR against him which said that he was accused of aiding K P Gosavi, who had acted as a witness in the drug seizure case, and hence, should be granted interim protection at par with main accused Sameer Wankhede, former Mumbai zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).

After hearing the petition, the HC said that relief was granted to Wankhede on the grounds that he was a government servant, whereas D’souza was a private citizen. When the court said that it was not inclined to grant relief to D’souza, he sought to withdraw the petition, which was allowed.

Karnik added that there was nothing against D’Souza in the FIR and he was willing to cooperate with the investigation. As the main accused had been granted protection, he should be granted similar reliefs, the advocate added.

Opposing the petition, advocate Kuldeep Patil for the CBI opposed the reliefs sought by D’Souza and informed the bench that he could have applied for anticipatory bail. To which Karnik submitted that Wankhede could have done the same, but he approached the HC and was granted protection.

Patil responded that the case of Wankhede was on a different footing and he filed the petition as a public servant and his plea was against sanction under section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act. “He (D’Souza) is a private citizen and the accusations of extortion are very serious,” Patil said. He assured the bench that if D’Souza complied with the notice under 41 (A) he would not be arrested.

After hearing the submissions, the bench said, “You are riding on his (Wankhede) back. Why not file anticipatory bail application? He was a public servant. You are in a different situation. The impression we had when the matter was circulated was that you are one of the officers.”

D’souza is the third accused, who has approached the HC and sought interim protection from no coercive action by the CBI. While last week, Wankhede filed a petition in the HC seeking similar protection, Ashish Ranjan, the intelligence officer of the NCB zonal unit, Mumbai, approached the Delhi high court seeking similar reliefs on Thursday. Wankhede was granted protection till June 8, while Ranjan’s petition is yet to be heard.