The search comes after the actor’s friend was arrested on Thursday for being involved in drug peddling.
The Central Crime Branch (CCB) in Bengaluru carried out a search at the Yehalanka residence of Kannada film star Ragini Dwivedi on Friday morning in connection with a drug case. Sources said cops in two cars arrived at the actor's residence which is within an apartment complex at around 6:30 am in the morning. Ragini was summoned by the police on Thursday but had failed to appear for questioning. Instead, she had said on Twitter that she would appear on Monday, citing that the summons was given at a short notice. She added that the same was communicated to the police through her lawyers. However, police served her a second notice asking her to appear for questioning by Friday itself. Incidentally the search on Friday morning was carried out after the CCB on Thursday announced the arrest of Ravi Shankar, Ragini’s friend and an alleged drug supplier. “We have arrested Ravi Shankar after getting evidence that he was peddling drugs. We have also secured his custody for five days to interrogate him to ascertain to whom all did he supply the banned drugs," Bengaluru Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sandeep Patil told reporters on Thursday evening. Read: Kannada filmstar Ragini Dwivedi seeks time to appear before cops in drug case "We have served Ragini another notice to appear for questioning on Friday at the CCB office after she said that she could not come today (Thursday) as she was unwell and sought time till September 7," Patil added. According to sources, Shankar is a government employee working with the Regional Transport Office in Jayanagar and is known to have attended rave parties where there was widespread use of contrabands like marijuana (ganja), cocaine and hashish. These developments come in the wake of the Kannada film industry being linked to wide-scale drug abuse. The allegations had surfaced after the police and the Narcotics Control Bureau nabbed an international drug trafficking racket in multi-city raids earlier in August. Among the kingpins who were arrested, main accused Anikha had told the police that there were multiple Kannada film celebrities who in her customer base. Ragini along with others were issued summons after filmmaker Indrajit Lankesh had also reportedly named her and Ravi of being involved in regular drug use. Background The current drug bust started on August 20 when the Narcotics Control Bureau conducted raids in Navi Mumbai and seized over 3000 MDMA pills. Following this, the NCB arrested a couple- HA Choudhary and R Batharey. The NCB then raided the residences of three drug peddlers in Bengaluru. On August 21, the NCB conducted raids at Nikoo Homes, an upscale gated community in Bengaluru and 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, 145 MDMA pills weighing 60 gm were seized along with Rs 2,20,500 cash. The sleuths arrested a man named Anoop Mohammed, who was allegedly in possession of these drugs. Based on inputs from the accused in these two raids, the NCB arrested Anikha D, who is the prime suspect in the case, from her home in Doddagubbi. The NCB seized 270 MDMA pills, weighing 111.6 gm, from her residence. Following this, the NCB had said that actors and musicians from Karnataka were under its scanner in connection with the racket that was busted. The NCB's revelation led to the state government ordering an inquiry into the drug racket operating in Karnataka. The Central Crime Branch has been charged with the probe. However, a few days ago, Kannada filmmaker Indrajit Lankesh told the media that several actors in Sandalwood consumed drugs at rave parties. On Saturday last, he was questioned by the CCB, where he is said to have submitted a list of names of actors, directors and musicians, who allegedly consume drugs. The CCB has asked Indrajit Lankesh to appear before the investigators on Thursday and has asked him to furnish proof of his allegations.
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