Some Tollywood celebrities, allegedly involved in the Enforcement Directorate probe in connection with a money laundering probe related to a four-year-old drugs case, appeared before the central agency along with actor Tarun Kumar on Wednesday.
He reached the ED’s zonal office at around 10 am in response to the notice given by the agency last month.
ED officials are expected to question him about suspicious financial dealings, whether he knows Kelvin Mascarenhas, a musician and prime accused in the case, and whether he ever attended parties organized at the ‘F’ club.
Tarun is the 10th person from the Telugu film industry to appear before the ED as he began questioning on August 31 in a money laundering probe in connection with a high-end drugs racket busted by Telangana’s Prohibition and Excise Department.
So far, the central agency has questioned director Puri Jagannath and actors Charmi Kaur, Rakul Preet Singh, Nandu, Daggubati Rana, Ravi Teja, Navdeep, Mumaith Khan and Tanish. It also questioned Ravi Teja’s driver and associate Srinivas and former general manager of ‘F’ club.
The interrogation is believed to have centered around his suspicious financial dealings with those involved in the drug case.
The ED had last month issued notices to around a dozen people linked to Tollywood as part of a money laundering probe in a case related to ‘Class A’ drug smuggling, including LSD and MDMA.
ED officials have been summoning Calvin Mascarenhas and other accused for interrogation parallel to the interrogation of Tollywood celebrities.
The drugs racket was busted on July 2, 2017, when customs officials arrested a musician Calvin Mascarenhas and two others and seized drugs worth Rs 30 lakh from them.
They had reportedly told investigators that they were supplying drugs to film personalities, software engineers and even students of some corporate schools. Mobile numbers of some Tollywood celebrities were reportedly found in their contact list.
Tarun was one of the Tollywood celebrities who were questioned by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Prohibition and Excise Department in 2017. He had denied taking drugs or having links with the arrested accused in the case.
The investigation team also took samples of his blood, nails and hair to ascertain whether he had consumed drugs or not. After the report of the Forensic Science Laboratory, the SIT had given him a clean chit.
A total of 12 cases were registered in connection with the drug racket. 30 people were arrested, while 62 people, including 11 linked to Tollywood, were investigated by the SIT under Section 67 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Those arrested include an American, a South African and a Netherlands national.
The SIT had collected blood, hair, nails and other samples from some people who had come before it for questioning and sent them for analysis.
The SIT filed charge sheets in eight of the 12 cases. However, it gave a clean chit to the film personalities who were questioned as part of the investigation.
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