HYDERABAD: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday, September 7, 2021, grilled Kelvin Mascarenhas, a key accused in the 2017 drug trafficking racket in which several Tollywood personalities are accused, and his two close associates from the city regarding suspicious financial transactions and possible money laundering.
It is alleged that the trio had carried out illegal transactions through their international links. On Tuesday, the ED also questioned Tollywood actor Nandu regarding financial transactions from his accounts and questioned about his connections with persons operating the bank accounts into which transfers were done.
After Kelvin’s arrest in 2017, based on his confession, his call data records and Whatsapp conversations, they had then registered 12 separate cases and arrested several people involved in the racket. It was alleged that these people had received huge amounts from film personalities, and the same was routed to their contacts abroad through hawala channels.
Kelvin and his two associates were let off late in the night after questioning. They are likely to be summoned again later. The ED has so far questioned director Puri Jagannadh, and actors Charmee Kaur and Rakul Preet Singh about whether they were acquainted with Kelvin, but the film personalities have denied knowing him. The ED will question Rana Daggubati on Wednesday.