My family is not involved: Suresh Babu

As speculation continues in the industry about who the police have issued notices to in the drug racket, the names of Rana Daggubati, his younger brother and a few others have surfaced. But, Suresh Babu denies it, calling it wrong news. “We didn’t get any notice nor were we called for anything. No one from our family is involved,” he said.

When asked why he and Allu Aravind chose to address the drug issue only now, though the industry has been implicated earlier too, he explained, “Somebody should come forward to put an end to this.

So, we have taken the initiative to tell the whole world that there are a few people in our industry who are giving a bad image to it. This is not limited to only the film industry, it is also there in schools and IT firms. So we want to eradicate the menace from the root level,” he said, adding that he does not know the names of the people involved as the police has kept it confidential. 

“The issue is very big and serious and I feel that this is the time that we have to speak about it,” he said. Suresh Babu also elaborated on his plans for an awareness campaign. “I spoke to the Movie Artistes Association (MAA) and they are organising a film festival on ‘No Drugs’. They are also making a video where all the big stars will say ‘No to drugs’. Venkatesh has already shot his video and they will be screened along with the regular films in theatres,” he revealed.

“The state government is handling this issue sensibly and they want to stop it at the root level. However, it won’t stop if a few people from the industry get arrested. Everyone is trying to find out where it started from and how to stop it. Otherwise many young children, especially students, are spoiling their life,” he said.