Wednesday Fever For Tollywood Celebs In Drug Mafia Case:- The crucial phase of the investigation into the drug racket busted by the Enforcement wing of the Excise department, early this month is expected to start today.
Popular personalities from the Tollywood industry will be present for the interrogation over the drug abuse. They will face a Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted for the case. Excise and Prohibition commissioner R.V. Chandravadan told a leading daily that the film stars who received the notices should not worry about the investigation process. He further assured them that the officials will act within the law.
“The SIT will question them within the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court of India. The director of Enforcement Dr. Akun Sabharwal will supervise the process. The SIT will question film personalities from Wednesday to August 2. The interrogation process will be in a friendly atmosphere. The entire process will be transparent,” he said.
Earlier, TS State Chief Minister mr. K. Chandrasekhar Rao said the investigators have a free hand and that no one was to be spared. Moreover, he also canceled the leave of Akun Sabarwal, asking him to stay focused on the case.
Sources said the SIT was ready with a questionnaire. “The SIT questionnaires have between 50 and 100 questions, based on the evidences collected so far about each individual. Those called in will be quizzed in three phases by different officers,” the sources said.
The recording of statements was to extract more details of the three cases registered under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and from persons who were suspected to have been in contact with prime suspect Calvin Mascarenhas. The SIT issued notices to 12 persons, most of them from the Telugu film industry. Calvin, is the man suspected to have been the supplier, on whose phone the investigating officials found the names of all these Tollywood stars, directors and others from the industry.
The recording of statements from Tollywood personalities, who were asked to appear before the Special Investigation Team (SIT), will start with that of Director Puri Jagannadh. Officials said the filmmaker agreed to appear before the team between 10.30 am and 5 pm. “We expect him to attend the inquiry as he has agreed to,” a senior official said, adding that there were possibilities of changes in the schedule.
According to official sources, a detailed questionnaire has been prepared by the SIT, based on the information provided by Mascarenhas and the other suspects who were arrested at various stages of the investigation so far. “The questions are mostly related to the involvement of the person in purchase or sale of drugs. The leads we obtained from the WhatsApp and other social media data of Mascarenhas and others are also being probed through these questions,” the sources said. The statements of all those who appear before the SIT will be video-graphed, officials said.
The crackdown on what appears to be one of the biggest drug rackets busted in the city so far began on July 2, with an Excise team arresting three persons and seizing LSD (Lysergic Acid Diethylamide) and MDMA (Methylenedioxymethamphetamine) from them. Since then, 13 persons were arrested with various measures of LSD, MDMA (Ecstasy) and cocaine being seized.
The first three arrested - Mohammad Abdul Waheb, Mohammad Abdul Quddos and Calvin Mascarenhas - were held with 700 dots of LSD and 35gm of Ecstasy, all worth about Rs 22.5 lakh. It was from them that leads into the involvement of teenagers, school and college students, Tollywood personalities and several techies were obtained.
SUPRAJA
