The Narcotics Control Bureau, which busted a synthetic drug racket last week, has seized a diary from the prime accused, which allegedly contains the names of 15 celebrities including actors, musicians, models and reality TV actors from Karnataka. NCB sources say they suspect that the drug peddlers, who were arrested, were selling MDMA and LSD to these artistes regularly. NCB sleuths are now looking to question these actors and musicians in order to obtain more information on other peddlers operating in South India.
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, who was allegedly in possession of these drugs. Based on inputs from the arrested 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.
Upon interrogation, the NCB learned that Anikha allegedly became a campus dealer in 2014 and began selling synthetic drugs to students. NCB sources said that over the years, she built a network of actors, musicians, models and reality TV actors in Karnataka and used to sell drugs to them regularly. “In Anikha's possession was a diary, which has the names of celebrities she used to deal drugs to. We want to question them in the coming days to get to the bottom of the racket and fish out the peddlers and their network,” an NCB source said.
The drugs, which were seized in Bengaluru, were allegedly shipped from Brussels in Belgium. NCB sleuths said that Anikha was one of the drug peddlers, who used to supply synthetic drugs in huge quantities to members from affluent sections of the society. “Since the news of actors and musicians being involved is out in the open, it will be difficult to nab them red handed,” the NCB added.
Sandalwood filmmaker Indrajit Lankesh on Saturday, had openly said that drug use was rampant in the Kannada film industry. “Some actors do consume drugs, mostly at the parties. I am aware that they consume drugs inside their vanity vans on the sets. I would not deny the allegation that there is a link between the drug mafia and the Kannada film industry. Many budding actors attend rave parties and consume drugs to get noticed. But it is also true that not all actors consume drugs,” Indrajit Lankesh said.
After his statement to the media, the Central Crime Branch summoned him for questioning on Sunday. Karnataka Director General and Inspector General of Police said that apart from the NCB’s probe, the state police too would begin probing into the drug mafia. Praveen Sood said that synthetic drugs were mostly sold by foreign nationals, whose visas have expired. “We will identify forign nationals whose visas have expired and look to see if they are selling drugs. Most of the time they turn to drug trade as they don’t have many employment options after their visas expire,” Praveen Sood added.