BENGALURU: The city has been rocked by a contraband drugs trade which has players from across the spectrum of society. Rave parties are held on invitation among closed circles and a range of contraband drugs — from curated marijuana, weed to MDMA, LSD blots and cocaine — are “sold” to the invitees. The venue of the rave parties is disclosed only at the last minute and is never hosted at the same place for a second time. The spotlight now is on some “event managers” of these rave parties.
The Central Crime Branch (CCB) police have unearthed an alleged nexus involving a government official, Ravishankar, Sandalwood actress Ragini Dwivedi, realtor Rahul Shetty and a party organiser Viren Khanna in the drug network in Bengaluru. “We have just started the investigation in the drug trafficking and abuse case two days ago. The CCB has arrested some people and their interrogation will reveal more details. Some others are on the radar,” said City Police Commissioner Kamal Pant.
Cops search Ragini’s house for 4 hours
A Senior police officer, who is part of the investigations, said that as phone calls to her were not going through, the CCB obtained a search warrant from a court and raided her Yelahanka residence at 6.30 am on Friday. A search was carried out till 10.30 am. Her mobile phones, laptops and other relevant documents were checked and seized. After the search, Ragini was whisked away in a CCB vehicle for questioning. “We have found links between international drug peddlers and actor Ragini and hence, a suo motu case has been filed at Cottonpet police station.
She was arrested soon after an FIR was filed. We are analysing her phones, laptops and other gadgets seized from her house,” the officer added. Meanwhile, realtor Rahul Shetty too was arrested on Friday based on Ravishankar’s interrogation. Shetty is said to be a close friend of another actress as well as of Ravishankar. He had attended several high-profile parties along with Ravishankar and was obtaining drugs from foreign sources, police said. The officer said the prime accused and ‘kingpin’ of the drug racket, Viren Khanna, was arrested from Delhi by CCB inspectors Sridhar and Lakshmikanth. “Khanna is the main person who organises the big parties where drugs are consumed.
He was in Delhi and two police inspectors went there and arrested him,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sandeep Patil said, adding that Khanna has been taken into police custody for four days. Khanna is said to have organised high-profile parties in Goa, Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, and said to have been in contact with sons of politicians, Bollywood actors and models who allegedly consumed the drugs he procured from Punjab and other places. Police Commissioner Pant said that as part of the investigations, other people from the film industry too have been summoned for questioning, but did not give out any names.