The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) that is probing the drugs angle in the Sushant Singh Rajput case is in the process of busting the larger nexus involving “influential circles” besides Bollywood behind the supply chain of narcotics in Mumbai.
Top sources said the influential circles could include politicians, bureaucrats, corporate honchos, businessmen and even police officials controlling or aiding the narcotics supply networks in Mumbai.
Phones and emails’ analysis of the peddlers has pointed to a larger syndicate behind the drugs trade involving those engaged in procuring the contraband and distributing them to the high profile end users.
The Bollywood figures under the NCB radar have spilled the beans and analysis of their phones and emails has provided several leads to the federal probe agency, they said.
The agency has already identified the peddling network and the film world celebrities who procured the substances from them.
Actor Deepika Padukone and her manager Karishma Prakash have been questioned by NCB in connection with the drugs probe related to Rajput.
Kshitij Ravi Prasad, a former Dharmatic Entertainment executive producer, arrested earlier by the NCB in Bollywood-drugs case, was on Saturday remanded to judicial custody till October 6.
Prasad was arrested by the NCB after questioning in the drugs case linked to Rajput’s death. The NCB had told the court earlier that Prasad had procured drugs from another accused, Karmjeet, and his associates.
Another actress Sara Ali Khan has also been grilled by the NCB.
The agency had earlier arrested actor and late Rajput’s girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik and others in connection with the Bollywood-drugs probe.
The CBI is separately probing Rajput’s death case, in which Chakraborty and her family members were originally booked by Bihar police under the charge of abetment to suicide.
Officials have not ruled the penetration of drug mafia in some top educational institutions across the country.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) in a late night raid on Saturday in F-10, F-11 and G-12 neighbourhoods of Islamabad arrested seven members of a major drug syndicate suspected to be patronised by Pakistan army and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party headed by Imran Khan.
The Pakistan army is facing funds crunch in Covid times and revival of Taliban in Afghanistan, a number of officials are re-establishing the drugs trade network.
Interestingly, one of the Bollywood actresses under NCB gaze is a relative of a top former bureaucrat of Pakistan.
The ANF arrested seven persons during the raids, including a woman and seized Pakistani Rupees 300 million worth drugs like heroin, hashish and cocaine. This syndicate was engaged in supplying drugs to educational institutions, important personalities in the Government and the private sector.