BENGALURU: The Central Crime Branch (CCB) police have named 12 people in the First Information Report (FIR) related to the contraband drugs case in Sandalwood. They have already arrested actor Ragini Dwivedi, her friend and RTO clerk Ravishankar, realtor Rahul Shetty and an event manager, Viren Khanna, and booked them under Sections 21, 21C, 27A, 27B and 29B of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985. The four arrested were taken for medical, including Covid test, after their arrest.
The FIR names Shiva Prakash Chappi, Ragini, Viren Khanna, Prashanth Ranka, Vaibhav Jain, Aditya Alva, Loum Pepper Samba, Prashanth Raju, Ashwini, Abhiswami, Rahul Thonshe and Vinay. It, however, does not mention the name of Ravishankar. Chappi works in the Transport Department and is the prime accused in the case. He is said to be a former friend of Ragini.
Thonshe is a close friend of Kannada actor Sanjjanaa Galrani. Samba is an African national and an alleged drug peddler, who used to supply contraband drugs to Ravishankar and also to some celebrities. He was also arrested under the NDPS Act.
The CCB has seized some contraband drugs, primarily marijuana, from the premises of some of the accused and the samples have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for testing the purity of the drug, said a highly placed source. Meanwhile, Ragini has reportedly denied any connection with the narcotic drugs network and is not forthcoming with any information, added the officer.
My daughter is innocent, says Ragini’s mother
“She has confessed that she was in contact with Ravishankar and Rahul Shetty and that they had attended several parties, but she has denied any drug link,” said the source. Ragini’s mother Rohini told reporters on Saturday that her daughter is innocent and has been “fixed” in the drugs case. “She will come out clean. I believe in justice,” said Rohini.
Three arrested, drugs worth Rs 44 lakh seized
The CCB on Friday raided a house in KR Puram and arrested three drug peddlers — A Subramani (26), Vidhus (31) and Shejin (21). They also seized contraband drugs worth Rs 44 lakh. Vidhus is a postgraduate in Computer Science from the UK while Subramani studied in a private school in Indiranagar and Shejin is a final-year student of hotel management.
Raids conducted in Belagavi, C’durga
Ready-to-harvest cannabis plants, worth about Rs 2 crore, were destroyed by the police at Odeyarahalli village in Rampura taluk of Chitradurga district on Saturday. Three people have been arrested in this connection. In Belagavi, the police raided four locations and recovered 123.5 kg of ganja and arrested seven peddlers.