In the latest development in the Sandalwood drug racket busted on August 21, Central Crime Branch has raided the Indira Nagar residence of the Kanada actor Sanjana Galrani in the early morning at around 6.40 am. After Ragini Dwivedi, Galrani is the second actor to be raided and interrogated in the drug racked case.
“After obtaining a warrant from a court, a search is being conducted at Sanjana Gulrani`s house for her alleged role in a drug case,” Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) Sandeep Patil told.
Galrani’s residence was raided after her close aides Rahul Shetty was arrested on Monday. A similar raid was conducted at the Viren Khanna’s residence who was arrested on Friday.
“Rahul Shetty was a marketing agent for private parties that were organised in various locations in Bengaluru and outside the country. Rahul’s job was to bring in celebrities to these parties. He would get a commission from the profits made. He would also procure drugs which the celebrities consumed. He and Sanjana were good friends and have attended several parties together,” told the police.
It was also informed that Sanjana co-owned an event planning company along with Pruthvi Shetty, who is also an accused in the case. It is alleged that they used to organize the high-end parties where they invite celebrities and supply drugs.
After Bollywood actress, Kangana Ranaut became vocal about the drug nexus and involvement of Bollywood biggies in drug abuse, Kannada film producer Indrajit Lankesh, came out with some allegations that the “drug mafia had also gained its roots in Sandalwood as well.”
He had given 15-20 names including musicians, actors, and technicians. The FIR registered in the Cottonpet police station includes actor Ragini Dwivedi, producer Shivprakash, Viren Khanna, Prashant Ranka, Vaibhav Jain, Abhiswamy, Aditya Alva, Simon, Prashant Babu, Ashwin, Rahul Tonse, Vinay, and a Senegalese national, Loum Pepper.
All the 12 accused in the drug racket case were booked under Section 120b of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections 21, 21C, 27A, 27B, and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act of 1985.
Following the complaint, Ragini Dwivedi has been taken into custody on Friday. On Monday, her bail was declined by the first additional chief metropolitan magistrate court and has been sent to police remand till September 11.
BK Ravishankar, a clerk in the Road Transport Office is also booked who was a close acquaintance of the actress. Besides that, a drug peddler, Niyaz from Kerala has also been booked in connection to the racket.
“All these persons from accused number-1 to accused number-12 people including Dwivedi used to connive together to hold (Rave) parties at different parts of Bengaluru and call many clients. They used to obtain drugs from the drug peddlers to supply them to businessmen, celebrities, some film actors and actresses, disk jockeys, software engineers, and others and make money through illegal means and indulged in unlawful activities,” said ACP Gautham.
