The Kochi Police believe that certain leading personalities of the new generation Malayalam film world could have had connections with the drug racket based at the luxury apartment in the city from where cocaine was seized on January 31 but they are virtually unable to proceed in the probe in this direction in the absence of concrete evidences.
Though the police have already examined the CCTV footages taken from the apartment complex thoroughly, they have not got clues or evidences that are strong enough to question the film personalities whom they suspect to have links with the sales and use of drugs based at the apartment in Kadavanthra in the city.
Those arrested from the flat for possessing and using cocaine have admitted to the police that several film personalities had visited the flat where ‘smoke parties’ were being held but the investigators are unable to proceed in this direction as they have not yet got details of these people from the accused.
At the same time, the police are not ruling out the possibility of questioning some people on the basis of the information received from the accused during the questioning. Two of the four young women arrested from the flat have reportedly admitted to the police that they had brought cocaine to Kerala and sold it earlier also.
The police have concluded that these two women, Bangalore-based assistant film director Blessy Sylvester and designer Reshma Rangaswamy, had close connections with a strong drug mafia operating in Kerala and that they had been selling the drug to those who reached the flat. Reshma and Blessy are respectively the first and second accused in the case.
The others arrested from the flat, owned by Thrissur-based controversial businessman Muhammad Nisham, were new generation Malayalam actor Shine Tom Chacko (31), fashion model Tinsy Babu and travel firm owner Sneha Babu. All the four arrested women were aged between 22 and 26.
The police have not so far succeeded in their efforts to get the details of the supply route of the drugs reaching Kerala. Though they had taken Blessy and Reshma to Goa last week on the basis of their statement that they had purchased the cocaine from there from a peddler named Franko during their stay there in December-January, they failed to find him.
In short, the police are probably where they had started from as far as the investigation is concerned as they have got no evidences to establish that the cocaine seized from the Kochi apartment had indeed come from Goa. The investigators now suspect that the two women could be deliberately trying to keep the real supply route a secret.
Though the investigators had questioned flat-owner Nisham, they could not get any clue from him in this regard. Nisham was arrested on January 29 for trying to murder a security guard at the Sobha City apartment complex near Thrissur where he was staying by ramming his Hummer SUV into him. The security guard is still battling for his life at a private hospital near Thrissur.
In this situation, the police’s plan is to question the accused, especially Blessy and Reshma, further. But this would prove a bit difficult for them as the Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court in Kochi had on Tuesday rejected their application for getting the accused in custody for three days. Earlier, the court had left the accused in police custody for five days.
Meanwhile, the Valappad police in Thrissur district have arrested a youth who is said to have close connections with drugs mafias based in Bangalore and Goa. Sai Nainesh of Kazhimbram in Thrissur, who was arrested on Wednesday with half a kilogram of cannabis, is said to have admitted that he had connections with Blessy also.