Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Sep 1: On August 21 the Narcotics Control Bureau busted a synthetic drug racket and arrested drug peddlers who were reported to have been supplying drugs to artists in the Sandalwood industry. Now, the NCB has got possession of a diary belonging to one of the accused. The book allegedly contains names of 15 celebrities including reality tv stars, actors, musicians and models from Karnataka. The accused were supplying MDMA, LSD to these actors regularly. The NCB will be looking to interrogate these celebrities to obtain more information on other peddlers operating in South India.
When the NCB busted the drug racket in Bengaluru's Nikoo homes they had seized 96 pills of MDMA, weighing 40 gm, and 180 LSD blots. A drug peddler named Ravindra was arrested here. The second raid was conducted at Royal Suites Hotel service apartment in Kalyan Nagar where 145 MDMA pills weighing 60 gm were seized along with Rs 2,20,500 cash. A man named Anoop was allegedly in possession of these drugs. Based on inputs from the accused arrested in these two raids, the NCB arrested Anikha D, the prime suspect in the case, from her home in Doddagubbi. Anikha was found with 270 MDMA pills, weighing 111.6 gm, in her possession.
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When the NCB interrogated Anikha, she confessed to being a campus dealer in 2014, supplying synthetic drugs to students. NCB sources said that over the years, she built a network of actors, musicians, models and reality TV actors in Karnataka and used to sell drugs to them regularly. “In Anikha's possession was a diary, which has the names of celebrities she used to deal with drugs too. We want to question them in the coming days to get to the bottom of the racket and fish out the peddlers and their network,” an NCB source said.
The drugs, which were seized in Bengaluru, were allegedly shipped from Brussels in Belgium. Anikha was one of the drug peddlers, who used to supply synthetic drugs in huge quantities to members from affluent sections of the society. “Since the news of actors and musicians being involved is out in the open, it will be difficult to nab them red-handed,” the NCB added.
Sandalwood filmmaker Indrajit Lankesh on Saturday had openly said that drug use was rampant in the Kannada film industry. Lankesh was then summoned by the Central Crime Branch on Sunday for questioning. Karnataka director general and inspector general of police said that apart from the NCB’s probe, the state police too would begin probing into the drug mafia. Praveen Sood said that synthetic drugs were mostly sold by foreign nationals, whose visas have expired. “We will identify foreign nationals whose visas have expired and look to see if they are selling drugs. Most of the time they turn to the drug trade as they don’t have many employment options after their visas expire,” Sood added.
Lankesh who spoke to media after meeting Central Crime Branch personnel said that he had handed over all the names. “There are 10-15 actors and I have shared the names. I have also given the officers details about their usual hangouts. I am hopeful that they will find them. I have also given a lot videos and pictures to them. It has a lot of proof for their current investigations,” he said.