The Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Mumbai Police to investigate the extortion allegations levelled by Prabhakar Sail against NCB’s zonal director Sameer Wankhede and witness Kiran Gosavi, has recorded the statements of Ranjitsingh Bindra and one Mayur Ghule.

According to sources, when Sam D’Souza was approached by Gosavi to get in touch with Shah Rukh Khan, he contacted his friend Mayur Ghule, who then took him to a restaurant in Bandra which was run by Ranjitsingh Bindra. Bindra then said he had no contact with Shah Rukh Khan but could help get in touch with actor Chunky Pandey’s brother Chikki Pandey.

Chikki Pandey then provided contact of Pooja Dadlani, who is Shah Rukh Khan’s manager and that is how the message allegedly recorded by Aryan Khan on Gosavi’s phone was sent to Dadlani. Dadlani then allegedly got in touch with Sunil Patil and Gosavi for alleged payment of demanded bribe money for the release of Aryan Khan.

Bindra is accused in an Enforcement Directorate case registered against late druglord Iqbal Mirchi, his family and others. Bindra is also said to be associated with actor Shilpa Shetty’s husband Raj Kundra and is his business partner.

Prabhakar Sail, who claimed to be the personal bodyguard of KP Gosavi, has alleged that he overheard Gosavi and Sam D’Souza talking about a Rs 25 crore payoff to let off Aryan Khan in the case. “They were discussing that Rs 8 crore would go to NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede,” Sail said at a press conference.

Sam D’Souza, a business consultant who allegedly ‘brokered a deal’ to help actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan in the drugs-on-cruise case, had alleged that the panch witnesses in the case – Kiran Gosavi and Prabhakar Sail – took money from SRK’s manager Pooja Dadlani.

In his petition before the Bombay High Court, D’Souza claimed innocence, saying he was tricked by Gosavi to help out Aryan Khan.

He said he arranged the meeting between Pooja Dadlani and Gosavi on October 3, the day after Aryan Khan was taken into custody by the NCB. D’Souza claimed Dadlani and Gosavi spoke in private and Shah Rukh Khan’s manager gave Rs 50 lakh to Gosavi.

‘Money changed hands’

Pooja Dadlani’s husband Hitesh was also present during the meeting. Sam D’Souza claimed that Gosavi said Aryan Khan had no drugs on him until then and that he could help Khan get out of this situation.

D’Souza said Dadlani and Gosavi spoke in private and he left for his hotel. D’Souza said he came to know on October 3 that an FIR had been registered against Aryan Khan, “which was shocking for me”.

“Thereafter, I called Sunil Patil multiple times. Nevertheless, Sunil Patil informed me that Kiran Gosavi had taken Rs 50,00,000 from Pooja Dadlani through his bodyguard, namely Prabhakar Sail,” D’Souza claimed in his petition.

‘Gosavi is fraud’

“Thereafter, in the news, selfie photographs of Kiran Gosavi with Aryan Khan got viral on social media and news channels. Further, it came to my knowledge that the said Kiran Gosavi is a fraud and has various police complaints registered against him in Pune,” D’Souza said.

D’Souza’s petition said his only motive after knowing all this was to make sure that the money given by Dadlani was recovered and save his own image. He claimed he got Kiran Gosavi to return money to Pooja Dadlani through her husband.