On Tuesday, Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy claimed that actor Shah Rukh Khan had helped the Indian government and approached the Qatar government to release 8 Indian navy veterans who were held captive in the state on charges of espionage.
The superstar was recently in Qatar to attend the AFC Final, after being invited as a guest. He met the Qatari Prime Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani. Pictures of the two together have gone viral on social media, resulting in numerous speculations.
Khan has denied any involvement of his with regards to the release of the navy veterans.
In reply to PM Modi’s tweet on X Swamy said, ”Modi should take Cinema star Sharukh 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).”
The Bollywood star’s team issued a public statement soon after the ex-BJP leader’s post went viral.
From the office of Mr. Shah Rukh Khan pic.twitter.com/s7Kwwhmd6j
— Pooja Dadlani (@pooja_dadlani) February 13, 2024
The statement read, ”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. Khans participation in this matter (sic).”
“Additionally, all matters involving diplomacy and statecraft are best executed by are very able leaders. Mr. Khan like many other indians is happy that the naval officers are home safe and wishes them all the best.”
Khan’s manager Pooja Dadlani shared the statement on her social media handles.