Top Bollywood actors receive summons in Indian drug probe

[MenInG]

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Some of Bollywood’s biggest actors are being questioned in a widening drug probe by federal agencies that has sent shockwaves through India’s beleaguered film industry and dominated prime time news headlines.

Officials from the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) have been investigating alleged drug use in Bollywood for the last month in connection with the death of Sushant Singh Rajput, a popular actor who was found dead at his residence in June.

The NCB is scheduled to question actress Deepika Padukone, one of the industry’s most well-known names, on Saturday, Indian media reported. Officials at NCB’s Mumbai office did not respond to calls from Reuters.

Padukone, 34, among the industry’s highest paid stars, was seen landing in Mumbai late on Thursday, ahead of her questioning on Saturday, according to local TV news. Padukone or her representatives were not immediately available to comment.

The NCB has already questioned several well-known persons connected to the industry this week in Mumbai, including producers, talent managers and a fashion designer.

The investigation is aimed at unearthing a possible nexus between the film industry and the drug trade, an Indian law enforcement official told Reuters.

“We don’t know who is next. It’s scary,” said a Bollywood producer, who did not want to be named, adding that there were fears that more big names could feature in the probe.

The 191 billion rupee ($2.59 billion) Indian film industry, of which Mumbai-based Bollywood forms a major part, has been struggling with a lean year, as theatres continue to remain shut due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mumbai police initially reported Rajput’s death as accidental and local media called it a suicide, but the federal police agency is now investigating if there was any foul play.

Earlier this month, the NCB arrested actress Rhea Chakraborty, who had been dating Rajput at the time of his death, for being “active in a drug syndicate connected with drug supplies”, according to a copy of her bail order.

Chakraborty and her brother Showik are currently in jail in Mumbai.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...ve-summons-in-indian-drug-probe-idUSKCN26G1Y6

 

[MenInG]

Bollywood star Deepika Padukone is being questioned by India's narcotics board in an investigation linked to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

Padukone is among six people to be summoned - two other actresses will also be questioned on
Saturday.

Rajput's girlfriend, Rhea Chakraborty, was arrested earlier this month for allegedly buying drugs for him - claims she has denied.

The case has fuelled months of media coverage and speculation in India.

Actresses Sara Ali Khan and Shraddha Kapoor are among those who will be questioned on Saturday, according to news reports. Another actress, Rakul Preet Singh, was questioned on Friday.

Rajput, 34, was found dead in his flat in Mumbai on 14 June. Police at the time said he had killed himself.

But his family later registered a police complaint against Chakraborty, accusing her of abetment to suicide and other crimes, all of which she has denied.

The case is now being investigated by three federal agencies.

With investigators drip-feeding nuggets of information to the media, rumours and conjecture over what happened and who is responsible have been rife.

What is the case?

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) seems to be pursuing two investigations - the first into Rhea Chakraborty, her brother and Rajput's former house manager.

All three were arrested for allegedly organising and financing the actor's alleged consumption of cannabis.

They have denied any wrongdoing.

The second investigation, which followed on from the first, is into claims of widespread use of drugs in Bollywood, according to local media.

Officials have been sparing with the details of the investigation, which has only added to the air of mystery.

Within days of Rajput's death, attention switched to Chakraborty, who found herself at the centre of a storm of allegations and conspiracy theories.

As part of their investigation, NCB officials said they were looking into WhatsApp chat messages in which Chakraborty was supposedly discussing narcotics.

While marijuana is illegal in India, a derivative of it - called bhang - is legal and commonly used.

What does Deepika Padukone have to do with it?

It's not really clear yet.

Narcotics officials say their questioning is based on WhatsApp chats involving Padukone and her managers, according to local media reports. But it's still unclear what these messages contain.

Some say she's being targeted because in January she visited a university where a group of students had been attacked on campus allegedly by a mob of rival students linked to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). BJP supporters had accused the actress of cynically mining publicity for her new film and on Twitter, they had asked people to boycott it.

According to the Times of India, officials claim that some drug dealers they questioned have named a few other actresses.

Social media users have also been asking why only actresses - and not actors - have been called in for questioning.

But a case that began with an investigation into an actor's death has spiralled into something else altogether in the weeks since.

And now with a string of Bollywood insiders in sudden focus, the media circus around the case has only grown, taking over national headlines and social media feeds in the country.

What has the reaction been?

The aggressive approach of television channels has led many to point out the absurdity of their coverage.
Over months, the media have spared none of the people around Rajput - his therapist, friends, family, colleagues and even his former cook have all been sought out for interviews and exclusives.

And with a lack of official information, news channels have spent hours dissecting what little, seemingly random, details are leaked.

In an attempt to show that Chakraborty was supposedly involved in Rajput's finances, one television channel tried to interpret alleged messages from her phone.

The anchor pointed to one such message, which said "Imma bounce", and concluded that this meant a
bounced cheque - much to the amusement of social media users, who quickly pointed out that this was millennial slang for "I'm going to leave".

While the unyielding media focus has prompted laughs and memes online, it has also spurred plenty of criticism.

Many have questioned whether all the hours spent on this have distracted people from other pressing issues India is battling at the moment - a Covid-19 caseload that is the second-highest in the world, an economy that has sharply contracted and rapidly deteriorating relations with China.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-54232634

 

[MenInG]

Mumbai: Actor Deepika Padukone's questioning in a widening drugs probe linked to the Sushant Singh Rajput death investigation continues five hours since she arrived at the Evelyn Guest House in Mumbai's Colaba, where the Narcotics Control Bureau's Special Investigation Team has set up a base.
Deepika Padukone was summoned for questioned by the anti-drugs agency along with actors Shraddha Kapoor and Sara Ali Khan.

The actor's manager Karishma Prakash is also being questioned for the second consecutive day. She had reached the NCB office earlier this morning.

On Friday, the NCB questioned Karishma Prakash and actor Rakul Preet Singh about the contents of WhatsApp chat which allegedly indicated marijuana was bought for consumption. Ms Prakash's questioning went on for much longer than Rakul Preet Singh's, which lasted four hours, sources said.

The escalating probe into Bollywood's drugs links started with actor Rhea Chakraborty's questioning, three months after Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead at his Mumbai home on June 14. The investigation, involving multiple agencies, has captivated the nation, throwing up almost daily twists and wild speculation and campaigns on social media.

Sources in the Narcotics Control Bureau, whose mandate is to go after larger drug cartels and not individual consumers, have said the agency was summoning Bollywood A-listers to understand the network of supply through alleged consumers.

It must be noted that the actors have not been named as accused in any drugs probe case, and are only being questioned.

During her questioning before arrest on September 9, Rhea Chakraborty reportedly named stars, including Sara Ali Khan and Rakul Preet Singh, in connection with drugs use. Her lawyer has denied this claim.

Sara Ali Khan was also Sushant Singh Rajput's co-star in the film "Kedarnath"; Sushant Rajput developed the drugs habit while shooting the film, according to Rhea Chakraborty's bail petition before the Bombay High Court.

The names of Deepika Padukone and Shraddha Kapoor were found in WhatsApp chats on the phone of Jaya Saha, Sushant Singh Rajput's talent manager and a top executive of talent firm Kwan.

Sushant Singh's family through their Advocate Vikas Singh had aired their displeasure over the direction of the probe calling "the NCB probe too going in the same direction like Mumbai Police probe... calling big names for questioning just to get attention".

Source NDTV

 

[MenInG]

Cant believe that people are stupid enough to think that Bollywood does NOT have a drugs problem!

 

[BreadPakoda]

Cant believe that people are stupid enough to think that Bollywood does NOT have a drugs problem!

It does. What's shocking is the response from Bollywood. Rather than acknowledging that there is a problem most are defending their people and acting victim.

 

[MenInG]

A Mumbai court on Sunday granted the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) custody of former Dharmatic Entertainment executive producer Kshitij Prasad till October 3 in connection with the probe into the purported “drug nexus” in Bollywood.

On Saturday, Prasad was the 20th person to have been arrested by the agency in connection with the case.

Senior NCB officials had earlier claimed that Prasad, an Executive Producer at Dharmatic Entertainment – a sister concern of Dharma Productions, a production house owned by Karan Johar – was in touch with major drug peddlers in Mumbai.

“Some of these peddlers have already been arrested while the others are yet to be caught. Prasad has told us that he used to procure drugs for his own consumption. We are investigating whether he also used to supply those drugs to others,” an official had earlier said.

The Dharma employee was arrested in FIR 16/2020 of the NCB’s Mumbai Zonal Unit.

The agency had previously arrested actress Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik and 17 others under this FIR and seized small quantities of hashish, LSD dots and marijuana. It later informed the court that it had decided to file a second FIR “to uproot the drug citadel in Mumbai, especially in Bollywood”.

https://indianexpress.com/article/c...oductions-karan-johan-kshitij-prasad-6617964/

 

[CricketCartoons]

It does. What's shocking is the response from Bollywood. Rather than acknowledging that there is a problem most are defending their people and acting victim.

Drugs is the least of problems in bollywood. many engineering students and medicos take it in campuses.

 

[gani999]

It does. What's shocking is the response from Bollywood. Rather than acknowledging that there is a problem most are defending their people and acting victim.

Drugs are an inherent part of celebrity for many. The transition from 'the boy/girl next door' to 'superstar' can be a very difficult one for many people to handle, particularly to those from middle or lower middle class families who attain instant fame. Drugs and alcohol provide a temporary respite, but end up destroying many in the long run.
One just has to look at Hollywood as an example. Plenty of ruined lives due to drugs and alcohol there too.
Although I am genuinely surprised by Deepika Padukone. She comes from a celebrity background and one assumes that she would have learned how to handle fame and fortune from her dad. Sad that she had to go down the drug route too.

 

[BreadPakoda]

Drugs are an inherent part of celebrity for many. The transition from 'the boy/girl next door' to 'superstar' can be a very difficult one for many people to handle, particularly to those from middle or lower middle class families who attain instant fame. Drugs and alcohol provide a temporary respite, but end up destroying many in the long run.
One just has to look at Hollywood as an example. Plenty of ruined lives due to drugs and alcohol there too.
Although I am genuinely surprised by Deepika Padukone. She comes from a celebrity background and one assumes that she would have learned how to handle fame and fortune from her dad. Sad that she had to go down the drug route too.

Same with Sara, if the news is true. Good upbringing, well educated. Its a lot to do with peer pressure as well.

Look, I know the problem is there in the larger society, but many of these folks at Bollywood champion social causes and believe they are the role models for the youth of this country. And then secretly do this....

 

[JaDed]

Drugs are an inherent part of celebrity for many. The transition from 'the boy/girl next door' to 'superstar' can be a very difficult one for many people to handle, particularly to those from middle or lower middle class families who attain instant fame. Drugs and alcohol provide a temporary respite, but end up destroying many in the long run.
One just has to look at Hollywood as an example. Plenty of ruined lives due to drugs and alcohol there too.
Although I am genuinely surprised by Deepika Padukone. She comes from a celebrity background and one assumes that she would have learned how to handle fame and fortune from her dad. Sad that she had to go down the drug route too.

Weed? Are you talking about weed as being drug route?

 

[JaDed]

What do you guys think Ajay is pretending to smoke in Shivaay the movie?

 

[MP2011]

As a sadhu commented that Indian sadhus have more weed in their single chillam than Rhea is accused of having bought for SSR. Will NCB arrest and question all those Sadhus?

We do have extremely misplaced priorities.

 

[CricketCartoons]

As a sadhu commented that Indian sadhus have more weed in their single chillam than Rhea is accused of having bought for SSR. Will NCB arrest and question all those Sadhus?

We do have extremely misplaced priorities.

Corruption happens all over india, so action should not be taken against anyone because it must be applied to everyone else before that someone is punished. that ranaut's illegal modifications shouldn't have been demolished because there are many illegal structures everywhere? tch tch, such is the logic of educated indians.

 

[gani999]

Weed? Are you talking about weed as being drug route?

Weed or marijuana is relatively harmless. It is not as addictive as cocaine, heroin or the other hard drugs. It is a great stimulant, in fact, and in small quantities can do you a world of good. Same with hashish. I'm talking from personal experience.

Were these Bollywood celebs doing mere weed then? I thought they were into harder stuff like cocaine.

 

[JaDed]

Weed or marijuana is relatively harmless. It is not as addictive as cocaine, heroin or the other hard drugs. It is a great stimulant, in fact, and in small quantities can do you a world of good. Same with hashish. I'm talking from personal experience.

Were these Bollywood celebs doing mere weed then? I thought they were into harder stuff like cocaine.

They were doing weed/hash.. I haven't seen any news where it said cocaine.. someone correct me if am wrong.

 

[gani999]

They were doing weed/hash.. I haven't seen any news where it said cocaine.. someone correct me if am wrong.

Cocaine is usually the choice of drug for celebrities who are into the stuff. The fact that is the most expensive adds to its glamour.

I'll be genuinely surprised if the NCB is harassing Bollywood celebs over weed and hash. These two are widely consumed all over India. Weed also grows wild in many parts of North India and the villagers in these places use it all the time.

 

[JaDed]

Cocaine is usually the choice of drug for celebrities who are into the stuff. The fact that is the most expensive adds to its glamour.

I'll be genuinely surprised if the NCB is harassing Bollywood celebs over weed and hash. These two are widely consumed all over India. Weed also grows wild in many parts of North India and the villagers in these places use it all the time.

All three were arrested for allegedly organising and financing the actor's alleged consumption of cannabis. They have denied any wrongdoing.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-54232634

 

[CricketCartoons]

Cocaine is usually the choice of drug for celebrities who are into the stuff. The fact that is the most expensive adds to its glamour.

I'll be genuinely surprised if the NCB is harassing Bollywood celebs over weed and hash. These two are widely consumed all over India. Weed also grows wild in many parts of North India and the villagers in these places use it all the time.

If you drive around UP badlands and stop by to answer nature's call, chances are you would be watering the marijuana bushes.

 

[Savak]

Did the Indian authorities just wake up to the fact that these Bollywood celebrities indulge in drugs? Its an unspoken secret, it probably helps them to cope with the stress of continous travelling and lengthy shooting

 

[MenInG]

A host of leading Bollywood filmmakers on Monday filed a lawsuit in the Delhi High Court against “media trials of Bollywood personalities”, for calling them names and painting the entire “Bollywood as criminals” and sought action against them in the fresh fallout of the Sushant Singh Rajput death case investigation.

Four Bollywood industry associations and 34 leading Bollywood producers sought directions against two TV channels — Republic TV and Times Now — along with their executive editors and other journalists to refrain from making or publishing irresponsible, derogatory and defamatory remarks against Bollywood as a whole and members of the industry.

The plea filed through DSK Legal also sought directions to the various social media platforms to restrain them from publishing the remarks of these journalists which is ultimately leading to media trials of Bollywood personalities and interfering with the right to privacy of persons associated with Bollywood.

The petition said that the plea was filed in wake of the channels using highly derogatory words and expressions for Bollywood such as “dirt”, “filth”, “****”, “druggies” and expressions such as “it is Bollywood where the dirt needs to be cleaned”, “all the perfumes of Arabia cannot take away the stench and the stink of this filth and **** of the underbelly of Bollywood”, “this is the dirtiest industry in the country”, and “cocaine and LSD drenched Bollywood”.

The name of the production houses are The Film & Television Producers Guild Of India (PGI), The Cine & TV Artistes’ Association (CINTAA), Indian Film and TV Producers Council (IFTPC), Screenwriters Association (SWA), Aamir Khan Productions, Ad-Labs Films, Ajay DevgnFflims, Andolan Films, Anil Kapoor Film and Communication Network, Arbaaz Khan Productions, Ashutosh Gowariker Productions, BSK Network and Entertainment, Cape of Good Films, Clean Slate Filmz, Dharma Productions, Emmay Entertainment & Motion Pictures, Excel Entertainment , Filmkraft Productions, Hope Production, Kabir Khan Films, Luv Films, Macguffin Pictures, Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment, One India Stories, R.S. Entertainment (Ramesh Sippy Entertainment),Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Pictures, Red Chillies Entertainment, Reel Life Productions, Reliance Big Entertainment, Rohit Shetty Picturez, Roy Kapur Films, Salman Khan Films, Sikhya Entertainment, Sohail Khan Productions, Tiger Baby Digital, Vinod Chopra Films, Vishal Bhardwaj Pictures and Yashraj Films.

The plea said Bollywood is a distinct and well recognised class, comprising the Hindi film industry in Mumbai. It said that since several years Bollywood is a huge source of revenue for the public exchequer, earns significant foreign exchange for India by way of revenue from overseas releases of films, tourism etc, and is a big source of employment, with various other industries also being largely dependent on it.

“Bollywood is unique and stands on a different footing from any other industry inasmuch as it is an industry that is dependent almost solely on goodwill, appreciation and acceptance of its audience. The livelihood of persons associated with Bollywood is being severely impacted by the smear campaign being run by the defendants.

“This is in addition to the ongoing pandemic which has resulted in extreme revenues and work opportunity loss. The privacy of the members of Bollywood is being invaded, and their reputations are being irreparably damaged by painting the entire Bollywood as criminals, seeped in drug culture, and making being part of Bollywood as synonymous with criminal acts in the public imagination,” the plea read.

The matter is likely to be heard this week.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/indi...rt-druggies/story-PVOF5hu5KNnjnnQFFAp5eJ.html

 

[KingKhanWC]

Very strange, Indian authorities are making this sound very serious. Its only cannabis