Bengaluru, (Asian independent) In a high-profile drugs racket allegedly involving Sandalwood stars and others, the Bengaluru City Crime Branch (CCB) arrested another Kannada actress Sanjjanaa Galrani on Tuesday evening. A city court later remanded her in five-day police custody.
Her’s is the second high-profile arrest in the case. Lead actress Ragini Dwivedi was arrested by the CCB four days ago.
After Galrani’s arrest, CCB officials took her to KC General Hospital in Bengaluru for the mandatory health checkup and COVID-19 test.
Other than Ragini, police has arrested high-profile party planner Viren Khanna, alleged drug peddlers Loum Pepper Samba, Rahul Tonse, Prashanth Ranka and Niyaz Ahmed in the case.
The police is still on the lookout for Vivek Oberoi’s brother-in-law and late former Minister Jeevaraj Alva’s son Aditya Alva, who has been named as accused number ‘6’ in the case. Prime accused and Ragini’s long-time friend Shiva Prakash is yet to be arrested.
Simultaneous raids were also conducted at the residence of Viren Khanna, who was arrested on Friday by the CCB in New Delhi. During searches, police seized a pair of police uniforms, which he allegedly flaunted during parties he hosted.
Galrani’s house in upmarket Indiranagar locality in Bengaluru East was raided early Tuesday morning. Galrani was taken into custody and taken to Police headquarters for questioning.
As part of its ongoing war against the drug menace in the state, the CCB had conducted raids and launched investigations to unearth the drug mafia’s links with the regional movie industry, also known as Sandalwood.
Galrani acted in Kannada movie ‘Ganda-Hendathi’, a remake of superhit Emran Hashmi and Mallika Sherawat starrer ‘Murder’, a crime thriller.
In a statement, Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) Sandeep Patil said: “After obtaining a warrant from a court, a search is being conducted at Sanjjanaa Galrani’s house regarding her alleged role in a drug case.”
Sandalwood’s alleged links with the drug mafia started tumbling out after Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut alleged such links of a section of Bollywood biggies.
Joining the debate, noted Kannada filmmaker Indrajit Lankesh, who was the first to launch Bollywood star Deepika Padukone, had alleged that the drug mafia had gained roots in Sandalwood and that he had shared information with Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) Sandeep Patil last week.
Soon after, raids were conducted on Dwivedi and those close to her four days ago and she was taken into police custody.
According to sources, Indrajit has allegedly given 15-20 names of Sandalwood stars, musicians, and technicians into drugs and frequenting high-end parties in the city.
According to the City Police, the CCB had arrested Niyaz Ahmed, a native of Kerala, on Monday in the drugs case allegedly involving Ragini.