The ongoing drug racket involving Kannada film industry (Sandalwood) has divided the industry, while the tantacles have reached to Karnataka politics as well as Bollywood.
Meanwhile, Ragini Dwivedi, a leading actress in Sandalwood is dodging CCB interrogation citing health reasons, after her boyfriend was taken to custody in the same case. Another heroine Sanjana Galrani has been issued notice too.
Trouble started after the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce held a meeting on Wednesday and vented its ire over Indrajit Lankesh and celebrity manager Prashanth Sambaragi, who were vocal about drug mafia in Sandalwood.
However, Sambaragi went ahead to charge that the drug racket in Sandalwood had connections with Karnataka political circles as well as Bollywood.
Sambaragi said that the CBI had stumbled upon a drug peddler called Imtiyaz Khatri, who used to supply drugs to actor Sushant Singh Rajput, who committed suicide.
In 2017, the same Imtiyaz Khan had hosted his birthday party, where Bollywood stars like Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan had attended. Among the other guests, a Karnataka MLA and his son were also present. The MLA was earlier with JD(S) and later joined Congress and won again. Besides, many Sandalwood actors also attended the party, he charged.
Meanwhile, the CCB has summoned Indrajit Lankesh, who had earlier claimed that he had given sufficient information about drug racket in sandalwood to sleuths.
Earlier this week, Indrajit Lankesh had given a statement to the CCB, claiming to be participants in the drug racket. However, CCB officials said that the statement had circumstantial evidences and not concrete evidences like videos, account numbers or phone numbers.
On Thursday, Indrajit Lankesh was summoned to the CCB office for the second time for questioning. After questioning him for some time, the CCB sleuths came down and took two bags from his car.
Notice to two actors: Meanwhile, the CCB has issued notices to two leading ladies in Sandalwood to appear before them on Thursday. While Ragini Dwivedi has sought some time till tomorrow, citing health reasons, Sanjana Ganral is expected to appear for hearing by Thursday evening.
Ragini Dwivedi name cropped up after the CCB got the number of her boyfriend Ravi Shankar, who is an employee of Transport Department. When she was served notice, she was represented by her lawyer, who sought one day time for her personal appearance.
Meanwhile, Sanjana Galrani's name was also in the list of phone numbers of Ravichandran, one of the three drug peddlers apprehended last week.
