Grilling of Tollywood celebs in drug racket case begins

Hyderabad: A crucial phase of the probe into the drug racket busted by the Excise Department early this month is expected to begin on Wednesday.

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.

The recording of statement 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.

The SIT, according to official sources, prepared a detailed questionnaire — 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.