Renowned Bollywood figure Shah Rukh Khan has refuted allegations suggesting his involvement in the liberation of eight Indian Navy veterans who were detained by Qatar.
Former Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy asserted on Tuesday that the actor had played a pivotal role in persuading the Qatari government to release the aforementioned individuals who were held on charges of espionage.
Responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's post on X, Swamy mentioned, "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)."
However, Shah Rukh Khan's team promptly refuted these claims, emphasizing that the successful resolution of the matter solely rested with Indian government officials. Pooja Dadlni, the manager of Shah Rukh Khan, shared a statement on Instagram asserting, "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)."
The statement further added, "Additionally, all matters involving diplomacy and statecraft are best executed by our very able leaders. Mr. Khan like many other Indians is happy that the naval officers are home safe and wishes them all the best."
Shah Rukh Khan had recently visited Qatar to attend the AFC Final as a special guest of honor, where he was pictured being warmly greeted by Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani.
In a statement released early Monday, the Ministry of External Affairs announced the return of seven out of the eight former Indian Navy personnel from Qatar. These veterans had been detained in August 2022 on accusations of spying on a submarine and had been incarcerated since then.
