BENGALURU: The Central Crime Branch (CCB) on Friday arrested popular Kannada actress Ragini Dwivedi for her alleged links with the drug racket in the Kannada film industry (Sandalwood). The police have also nabbed the prime accused Viren Khanna — termed as a ‘big catch’ — from New Delhi and also a realtor from Bengaluru, taking the total number of arrests to four.Ragini was arrested after a thorough four-hour search of her Yelahanka residence early on Friday which was followed by five hours of grilling.
After filmmaker and journalist Indrajit Lankesh gave his statement to the CCB about drug abuse in Sandalwood, the police acted quickly and arrested K Ravishankar, an employee at the Jayanagar Regional Transport Office. He claimed to be a “close acquaintance” of Ragini, Police Commissioner Kamal Pant confirmed at a press conference on Friday afternoon. Indrajit had earlier claimed on a TV channel that at least 15 persons from Sandalwood were involved in the drug trade.
During Ravishankar’s interrogation, the police learnt about actors attending parties to consume drugs. He is said to have revealed to the police that he carried drugs, to be supplied to the guests at the parties. Ravishankar has been suspended after his alleged involvement came to light soon after his arrest.Following the revelations, Ragini was served a notice by the CCB, summoning her to depose before them on Thursday. However, the actress is said to have sent her lawyers to request postponing her deposition until Monday, which the CCB rejected, and instead, asked her to depose before them on Friday.
Ravishankar spilled beans onrave party locations in B’luru
“Ravishankar has confessed that he was actively involved in the drug trade and gave the police some details about the parties and the places where they are held in the city. He also told the police that he is in a close relationship with the actress and they had a common party circle where drugs were also offered,” said Pant. “They have a known supply channel for the contraband drugs,” he added. The Commissioner said that Ravishankar and Rahul Shetty were regular faces at some of the drug parties in the city. Rahul is an architect and has some business interests in Sri Lanka.
“The investigation will take time, but we will take it to a logical end. We will free the city of the drug menace. The police are on the brink of cracking some other big cases related to drugs,” he added. Last week, the CCB had arrested three drug peddlers under the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and seized 204 kg of marijuana (ganja) worth Rs 1 crore from them. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had also arrested three peddlers, including a woman from the city, and seized a huge cache of MDMA and LSD blots. Their interrogation had revealed the names of “some prominent musicians and actors” in Bengaluru.
Kingpin held in Delhi
The prime accused and ‘kingpin’ of the drug racket, Viren Khanna, was arrested from New Delhi by the CCB.