Tollywood medicine case: ED questions actor Nandu, Mascarenhas
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday questioned Tollywood actor Nandu, key accused Calvin Mascarenhas, and two others in reference to a cash laundering probe linked to four-year-old drug case. Nandu, who arrived on the ED workplace within the morning, was quizzed for greater than eight hours. He was reportedly requested about his monetary transactions and financial institution particulars.
The actor was summoned by the ED for questioning on September 20. It was not clear if the ED officers summoned him early at his request or needed to query him earlier than grilling others.
He’s the fourth Tollywood character questioned by the ED. Director Puri Jagannadh and actors Charmee Kaur and Rakul Preet Singh had been questioned since August 31.
The ED had final month issued notices to 10 individuals linked to Tollywood and two others together with a personal membership supervisor as a part of a cash laundering probe linked to the medicine racket.
Actors Rana Daggubati, Ravi Teja, Navdeep, Mumaith Khan, Tanish and Ravi Teja’s driver Srinivas have additionally been summoned in connection the medicine racket which was busted with the arrest of drug peddlers in 2017.
The medicine racket was busted on July 2, 2017 when customs officers arrested Mascarenhas, a musician, and two others and seized medicine price Rs 30 lakh from their possession.
That they had reportedly advised the investigators that they’re supplying medicine to movie celebrities, software program engineers, and even college students of some company colleges. Cellular numbers of some Tollywood celebrities had been allegedly discovered of their contact lists.
The Excise Division had constituted SIT for a complete probe. A complete of 12 instances had been registered, 30 folks had been arrested whereas 62 people together with 11 folks linked with Tollywood had been examined by the SIT underneath Part 67 of the Narcotic Medicine and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and Part 161 of Legal Process Code.
The SIT had collected blood, hair, nail and different samples from a few of those that appeared earlier than it for query and despatched them for evaluation.
It had filed a cost sheet in eight out of 12 instances. It, nevertheless, gave clear chit to the movie personalities who had been questioned as a part of the investigation.
In the meantime, the ED additionally questioned Mascarenhas and two different accused Abdul Wahed and Abdul Quddus who had been caught with the medicine, grilling them about their suspected monetary transactions with some Tollywood personalities.
In one other improvement, Central Crime Station (CCS) police on Tuesday filed a cost sheet in a drug case booked in opposition to Mascarenhas in 2016. A metropolis court docket accepted the cost sheet and ordered him to seem on October 11.
Mascarenhas was arrested with LSD in August 2016 by Job Drive police and a case was registered at Boenpalli police station within the metropolis. The case was later transferred to the narcotics wing of CCS. The accused was later launched on bail.
