BENGALURU: A “common procurement and supply chain of contraband narcotics and drugs” between a section of Sandalwood and Bollywood actors is said to be emerging in the Bengaluru drug bust case, according to highly placed sources.
The Central Crime Branch (CCB) is on the lookout for Aditya Alva, son of late Jeevaraj Alva and brother-in-law of Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi, who has been named as the sixth accused in the suo motu FIR registered by the CCB at the Cottonpet police station on September 4.
The FIR names 12 suspects, including Sandalwood actor Ragini Dwivedi.
According to the CCB, Alva has not been traced in the city so far. The police have reportedly questioned his bodyguard, the sources said.
An official source told The New Indian Express that some of the suspects named in the FIR “may have some critical information regarding the common drug supply chain” between Sandalwood and Bollywood actors and also in the case in which actor Rhea Chakraborty has been arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) under provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.
A team of NCB, Bengaluru zonal unit, has been camping in Mumbai since last week for investigation in the Rhea case soon after they arrested three alleged drug peddlers including a woman, Anikha, in Bengaluru, which reportedly led to the CCB raids on the Sandalwood personalities. “The NCB case is separate from the CCB case,” the officer stressed.
Seven suspects held under NDPS Act so far
Seven people have been arrested by the CCB so far under the NDPS Act, including Sandalwood actors Ragini Dwivedi and Sanjjanaa Galrani, high-profile event manager Viren Khanna, RTO clerk Ravishankar, realtor Rahul Shetty, alleged drug suppliers Loom Pepper Samba (Senegalese) and Niyaz Ahmed from Kerala. Barring Sanjjanaa and Niyaz, the FIR was registered against 12 suspects under Section 120b (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 21 (possession, purchase or use of any manufactured drug or any preparation containing any manufactured drug), 21(c) (rigorous imprisonment not less than 10 years), 27a (punishment for financing illicit traffic and harbouring offenders), 27b (consumption of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance) and 29 (abetment or being party to a criminal conspiracy to commit an offence) of the NDPS Act.