KOCHI: Police on Wednesday issued notices to actor Sreenath Bhasi and Prayaga Martin to appear for interrogation as part of a probe into cocaine seized from the hotel room of gangster Om Prakash at Kundanoor recently.
The duo was summoned to appear for questioning on Thursday. It was on Sunday evening police searched the rooms at a luxury hotel where Om Prakash and his friend Shihas stayed.
Police found a minute quantity of cocaine and four litres of liquor in the room. The investigation revealed that Om Prakash hosted a party and over 20 persons, including actors Bhasi and Prayaga, visited the room on Saturday night and Sunday morning.
According to police officials, notices were sent via police officials to five persons to appear at the office of Ernakulam Assistant Commissioner of Police P Rajkumar on Thursday morning. Earlier, Prayaga denied knowing Om Prakash. She claimed that the visit to the hotel room was after being invited by her friend.
Kochi City Police Commissioner Putta Vimaladithya speaking to reporters on Wednesday said that traces of cocaine were found from the room where Om Prakash stayed. Forensic experts examined the room and collected samples on Tuesday which were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory for detailed analysis.
“We will question all the people who visited the hotel room. There were traces of cocaine in the room. A detailed probe is being conducted. The forensic examination report is awaited,” he said.
Meanwhile, police have identified 14 persons who visited the hotel room. Most of them are business persons and top officials of business companies operating in Kochi. Some of them came with their life partners and friends. Attempts are made to identify the rest of the persons. Police suspect that more than 20 persons had visited the hotel room on Saturday and Sunday. Other than Elamakkara native Binu Joseph none of them have any criminal history, sources said.
Police have also launched an attempt to track down Thiruvananthapuram native Bobu Chelapathy in whose name the hotel rooms were booked. Police also recovered a flight ticket to Chennai from Om Prakash and further probe is conducted about his itinerary.
“Chelapathy is a General Manager of a health-related company with its office at Maradu. His mobile phone was found switched off since Sunday. We have collected information about the whereabouts now. His name was used for booking hotel rooms to get a reduction as the top officials of his company stayed at the hotel during their visit to Kochi,” a police officer said.
Police arrested Om Prakash, Shihas and Binu Joseph in the case. Om Prakash and Shihas were granted bail from the court. Binu Joseph was granted bail from the police station. Om Prakash was a prime accused in the Paul Muthoot murder case and around 30 cases are registered against him in the state.