HYDERABAD: Actor Tarun Kumar, son of veteran actress Roja Ramani, allegedly having contacts with the peddlers of LSD, was grilled by the Special Investigation Team at the headquarters of Telangana Prohibition and Excise department in Nampally on Saturday.Tarun, who claims to have withdrawn his partnership from the pub which was a drug haven for several celebrities and high-class people, long ago, was questioned for over 13 hours by the SIT.
Tarun is the fourth film personality to attend the questioning by the SIT. The actor was accompanied by his father Chakrapani at 9.30 am, an hour before the scheduled time. A team of four officers questioned Tarun on various aspects related to the previous incidents of drug peddling in his knowledge and whether he knew any of the peddlers. Tarun was also questioned about his association with other celebrities and their habits, and also about his Goa links and also those with Calvin Mascarenhas.
Calvin, the alleged kingpin of busted Drug peddling racket in Hyderabad, has Tarun’s mobile number in his contact list along 1,477 other telephone numbers that included the 11 film personalities summoned by the SIT. Tarun was also reportedly in touch with Calvin and had some conversations regarding the drug deal.“Tarun Kumar is being examined by the SIT. The questioning started at 10.30 am and is going on. He is cooperating and the questioning is on,” said the officials.
A letter was addressed to the Directorate of Medical Education, Koti, by excise commissioner RV Chandravadan, requesting to extend services of a medical team to collect blood samples, nail and hair samples of actor Tarun. A team of doctors from Osmania General Hospital visited the SIT office in Nampally and collected the blood, nails and hair samples of Tarun for analysis.
Nail, hair and saliva samples taken from Tarun
Meanwhile, the SIT has called a Clues team to collect the nail scrapings and saliva samples of Tarun, to send for forensic analysis. The nail scrapings and saliva would give details of the chemicals that are present in the body of the actor. Officials say that new technology with the Hyderabad police would help in getting as much as 90 per cent accurate results. “The nail scrapings and saliva would help in finding the traces of drugs, if the person has consumed it in the recent times, may be in the last 30 days. Even if the nails are removed, the drugs, which convert into other forms during the metabolism, will be present in the nail formation which will be matched with the contents traced from the saliva.”
“The analysis of the contents present in the samples will be done at the Forensic Sciences Laboratory here,” said a senior police officer in Hyderabad, expressing confidence that a regular consumer of drugs will be easily identified with the test. Meanwhile, in a note issued on Saturday, Excise (Enforcement) Director Akun Sabharwal said questioning of Tarun is going on. Actor P Navdeep would be attending questioning at the SIT office on Monday and actress Charmme Kaur has also agreed to visit the office on July 26, for questioning in connection with the drug bust.
Excise dept cancels licence of F Club
In the wake of ongoing crackdown on drugs in the city, the Prohibition and Excise department officials have suspended the licence of F Club in Film Nagar on Saturday. A warning has been issued to 14 other bars and pubs for allowing drug abuse on their premises. Since decades, there have been several instances in city wherein peddlers caught by police reportedly confessed selling various kinds of drugs to their customers making pubs their haven. Being on police radar for long, the pubs in Hyderabad were served notices by Special Investigation Team.
Owners of all the pubs and bars and their managers in Greater Hyderabad limits were called for a meeting on Saturday at Abkari Bhavan, headquarters of Excise department. During the meeting, officials decided to suspend the licence of F Club with immediate effect and other pubs were warned to keep an eye on the customers and maintain CCTV cameras to ensure peddling does not take place on their premises. “Based on the evidence available, the department has decided to suspend the licence of F Club with immediate effect from Saturday. Warning letters have also been issued to 14 other bars and pubs,” said Akun Sabharwal.