Kannada actor Ragini Dwivedi has been arrested on Friday evening for her alleged involvement with a drug trafficking syndicate in Bengaluru.
Central crime branch sleuths, who questioned Ragini through the day for her alleged links with others involved in the drug peddling case, arrested her after her two homes in Bengaluru were searched.
On Thursday, two suspected drug peddlars Ravishankar and Rahul Shetty, were arrested by the CCB. Ravishankar, a Karnataka government transport department employee, was allegedly a close aide of Ragini, because of which she was summoned for questioning.
30-year-old Ragini, who has over 25 films to her credit and has won the SIIMA award eight years back, had consulted lawyers abt the case too. She had evaded questioning on Thursday citing illness. On Friday, she appeared before the CCB.
Shetty, a known name in the Kannada film circle, is a close friend of another prominent actor Sanjjanaa Galrani, who has acted in many South Indian languages. Her role has also been investigated, though she said she only knew shetty through film networks.
“As far as I know, he is a nice person, he has acted for small roles. If he has done something wrong, I don’t know why my name is getting mixed up in this,” said Sanjjanaa.
There are 12 persons accused in the sou motu case taken up by the police in West Bengaluru. So far, four of the 12 have been arrested.
Another arrested person is Viren Khanna, who was picked up by CCB inspectors from Delhi. He is allegedly a well connected individual who organises big parties. Ravishankar was suspended from his government job.
“CCB has been working on this for the last one month,” said Bengaluru Police Commissioner Kamal Pant, at a press conference Friday evening.
The investigation has been based on inputs gleaned during the interrogation of the three, besides checking their phone records. It is now widening to the second layer of their networks, Pant said.
“They (Ravishankar and Rahul) procured drugs from a foreign national. We have zeroed in on that national as well. Certain information are given by him on past incidents. Our officers are working on that,” Pant said.
Source: News18