Mumbai cruise case: CBI questions accused Sanvile D’Souza

In May, the CBI searched several locations in Mumbai, Delhi, Ranchi, Lucknow, Chennai and Guwahati after registering a case for corruption against former NCB official Sameer Wankhede and four others.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on June 20 questioned an accused, Sanvile D’Souza, in connection with the 2021 cruise ship case in which Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan was arrested, but never charged.

“Mr. D’Souza was summoned to the CBI headquarters in Delhi for questioning. He has been told to join the probe again on Wednesday,” said an agency official.

In May, the CBI searched several locations in Mumbai, Delhi, Ranchi, Lucknow, Chennai and Guwahati after registering a case for corruption against former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) official Sameer Wankhede and four others.

In the First Information Report (FIR), it was alleged that Mr. Wankhede and two other officials committed serious irregularities owing to which an “independent witness” in the cruise ship case allegedly conspired with others to extort ₹25 crore from Mr. Aryan’s family.

In its complaint to the CBI, the NCB alleged that after receiving information about drug use on the Cordelia Cruise ship on October 2, 2021, Mr. Wankhede and then superintendent Vishwa Vijay Singh constituted a team to conduct a search operation.

The then intelligence officer, Ashish Ranjan Prasad, was made the investigating officer, while accused Kiran Gosavi and Prabhakar Sail were roped in as “independent witnesses”.

Following allegations of corruption against the officials, the NCB initiated an inquiry and found that names of certain suspects had allegedly been dropped from the first information note and those of some others included. Several passengers were searched at the departure gate of the Mumbai Port Trust, but as alleged, the search details of some suspects were not documented and they were allowed to leave.