₹50 lakh taken from SRK for Aryan's release was returned later, claims man linked to extortion allegation

Sam D'Souza said KP Gosavi told SRK's manager Pooja Dadlani that he can help with Aryan Khan's release as Aryan was not carrying drugs and took ₹50 lakh from Shah Rukh Khan. A day later, Aryan was arrested and the money was returned, he claimed.

Sam D'Souza, whose name cropped up in the Aryan Khan drugs case as a key link in the Narcotics Control Bureau's extortion bid on Wednesday said ₹lakh was taken from Bollywood actor Shah Ruh Khan. In his pre-arrest bail application submitted to the Bombay high court on Wednesday, which was later rejected, D'Souza said he made sure that the money is returned to Shah Rukh Khan. He claimed that he returned the money to Shah Rukh's manager Pooja Dadlani through her husband.

Sam D'Souza claims SRK paid ₹50 lakh to KP Gosavi to get Aryan Khan released but the money was returned to him after Aryan was arrested.

These claims take the case to a new turn as Prabhakar Sail alleged that he overheard KP Gosavi and Sam D'Souza discussing a deal of ₹18 crore. According to Prabhakar, Sam D'Souza was also present in the car where KP Gosavi and Shah Rukh's manager Pooja Dadlani discussed the deal. In his plea, D'Souza said he was not present when the discussion took place.

Rahul Gandhi wrote to SRK when Aryan was in jail, said, 'Truth can't be held hostage'

D'Souza left from the place to give Gosavi and Dadlani privacy and hence, was not part of their discussion, the application said, adding that when D'Souza came to know of Aryan Khan's arrest in the case the next day, he was shocked.

“The applicant is an innocent person who has nothing to do with the alleged offence and he is falsely implicated by Prabhakar Sail,” it added.

The plea, however, does not mention how he recovered ₹50 lakh from Gosavi and returned it to SRK's manager.

According to D'Souza, Gosavi showed a list of names in which Aryan Khan's name was not present as no drug was found on her. Gosavi told Dadlani that he could have helped in the release of Aryan Khan as no drugs were found on him and when the negotiation took place, Aryan Khan was detained but not arrested.