Published 12:47 IST, December 21st 2020
Actor Arjun Rampal arrives at NCB office for questioning in Bollywood Drug probe
Actor Arjun Rampal arrived at the NCB office in Mumbai for questioning on the Bollywood drug investigation that is linked to Sushant Singh Rajput’s death
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Actor Arjun Rampal on Monday arrived at the office of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in Mumbai for questioning on the Bollywood drug investigation that is linked to Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case. This is the second time the actor has been summoned for interrogation after he was grilled by the agency for several hours in November.
Rampal was seen walking out of his car at 11:30 am towards the NCB office, amid police security and media presence. He was originally summoned on Wednesday, December 16 but he had failed to answer his summons due to ‘personal reasons’ and requested to join the probe on a later date. The NCB had allegedly warned Rampal that action would be initiated against him if he failed to appear on the revised date.
The NCB had earlier raided the actor’s residence on November 9 and had seized electronic gadgets such as laptops, mobile phones and tablets. The officials have also questioned his driver during the investigation. The actor was questioned by the NCB for several hours last month, while his partner Gabriella Demetriades was quizzed for two consecutive days. Rampal’s friend Paul Bartel and Gabriella’s brother Agisilaos Demetriades have already been arrested by the agency.
Rampal refutes reports of drug use
Refuting reports of alleged drug links, Rampal had told the media that the NCB had found a prescription for medicines at his residence, which was handed over to the officials. The actor also said that he was cooperating with the investigation and the NCB officials were doing a good job.
Over the last two days, NCB has conducted a major crackdown on peddlers in Mumbai, who are supplying drugs to those associated with Bollywood. The Central agency has so far nabbed 29 people including Bollywood celebs, comedienne Bharti Singh, her husband Haarsh Limbachiyaa and brother of Arjun Rampal’s partner Agisilaos Demetriades.
In the most recent development, the NCB on Thursday approached Bollywood filmmaker and producer Karan Johar in connection with the 2019 party video that had come under severe scrutiny over the last couple of months following a complaint by Manjinder Singh Sirsa. Johar submitted his response to the agency on Friday through a pen drive and a letter, via his lawyer and a staffer.
His summons came after repeated interrogations of top Bollywood celebrities including Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan, Rakul Preet Singh, Shraddha Kapoor, and the latest being Arjun Rampal.
The now-deleted video from 2019 features Karan Johar recording the guests at his party one by one, Deepika Padukone, Shakun Batra, Malaika Arora, Arjun Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor-Mira Rajput, Varun Dhawan-Natasha Dalal, Rohit Dhawan, Zoya Akhtar, Ranbir Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal, Ayan Mukerji, Pooja Shetty Deora, among others.
12:47 IST, December 21st 2020