Indian actor Shah Rukh Khan has discredited claims suggesting his involvement in securing the release of eight Indian navy personnel booked in espionage charges in Qatar. The allegations were put forth by former Rajya Sabha MP, Subramanian Swamy, who maintained that the actor played a vital role in convincing the Qatari government to release the Navy officers.
The Pathaan actor was recently spotted in Qatar as a special guest for the AFC Final, fueling speculations that his visit was more than as a special guest. Pictures of the actor being greeted by Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani further further piqued curiosity.
“Modi should take Cinema star Sharuk Khan to Qatar with him since after MEA and NSA had failed to persuade the Shiekhs of Qatar, Modi pleaded with Khan to intervene and thus got an expensive settlement from the Qatar Shiekhs to free our Naval officers (sic),” Swamy wrote as a response to Indian PM Narendra Modi’s post on platform X (formerly known as Twitter).
To refute these claims, the Raees actor’s team issued an official statement.
“Regarding the reports concerning Shah Rukh Khan’s purported role in the release of India’s naval officers from Qatar, the office of Mr Shah Rukh Khan says that any such assertions of his involvement are unfounded, emphasizing the execution of this successful resolution solely rests with the Indian government officials and unequivocally denies Mr Khan’s participation in this matter (sic),” Khan’s manager, Pooja Dadlani, shared on Instagram.
On Monday, the Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement in response to the claims, confirming that seven out of the eight former Indian Navy personnel had returned to India from Qatar. The Navy veterans were detained in August 2022 on charges of espionage, accused by Qatari authorities of spying on a submarine, leading to imprisonment.
