By GS Radhakrishna
Sep 4, 2020
Bangalore: Actress of several hit Kannada movies and known for hot scenes, Ragini Dwivedi was on Friday evening taken into custody by Bangalore police working on alleged disclosures made by whistle blower film maker cum actor Inderjit Lankesh about drug abuse in the Kannada film industry and its nexus with drug mafias .
The police registered an FIR against Ravi Shankar and Rahul ( assistants of actress Ragini and Sanjana) and 12 others at Cottonpet Police station. Investigation will be carried by a team of CCB ACP Gautam .
Later, reports said that Police raided Ragini’s flat and also seized four mobiles from which lot of material was allegedly deleted by her since last night
Meanwhile, the actress’s application in Bangalore sessions court for anticipatory bail been posted for September 7.
Addressing a press conference in the evening, Bangalore police commissioner Kamal Panth said the police had collected strong digital evidence ( of participation in drug parties ) of some actors, including Ragini, but was waiting for more details for next step of arrest .
Ragini Dwivedi, though a Haryanvi , was born in Bengaluru. She made her debut in the Sandalwood with the movie Veera Madakari in 2009 and shot to fame for her role in films like Kempe Gowda, Ragini IPS, Bangari and Shiva.
Another actress in the drug lens of police is Sanjana Galrani who acted in both Kannada and Telugu films ( Dandupalya, Bujjigadu, etc).She has also been issued notice to appear before the CCB by Monday.
As the heat of the drug abuse in Sandalwood, the Kannada film industr,y picked up momentum focus has turned on actor Ragini Dwivedi, hailing from Haryana with arrest of her associate Ravi Shankar.
She was summoned to to CCB( Central Crime Bureau) in Bangalore and grilled on Friday by ACB Goutam for six hours before her arrest.Another associate of hers Viresh Khanna of Delhi has also been taken into custody by CCB.
Drug menace in the Kannada film industry and it’s link to Bollywood hit the nation after the Narcotics Control Bureau of India last week arrested three persons in Bengaluru for peddling drugs brought from Goa,Visakhapatnam and Kerala to Film industry Celebrities and others inBangalore, Mumbai and also Hyderabad.
–India News Stream