NCB investigating actor described as “mastermind” behind drugs racket?

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in India have reportedly been investigating an actor who used to be a supermodel, whom the agency believes is the ‘mastermind’ behind the alleged drugs racket in Bollywood.

Actors such as Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan, Shraddha Kapoor and Rakul Preet Singh have been questioned by the NCB about the matter. Their names came up during the agency’s investigation of actor Rhea Chakraborty’s connections to drug suppliers. Chakraborty was initially being investigated in connection to late actor, Sushant Singh Rajput’s death.

Hindustan Times shares that CNN-News18 recently reported that three more actors were on the radar, and the alleged ‘mastermind’ was an actor who used to be a model. These three could be summoned by the NCB for questioning in the coming days. The channel reported that the NCB was trying to uncover the identities of individuals who were supplying narcotics to various people in the film industry, such as actors, directors and producers. The alleged ‘mastermind’, the report added, was the ‘big fish at the helm of affairs’, and was supposedly ‘connected to all the local peddlers, and who facilitates the consumption and procurement of drugs in the film industry’. However, the NCB is yet to comment or release a statement on this officially.

Earlier, Republic TV’s sources shared that the upcoming phase of the investigation was likely to last a month, and would involve a few of the ‘biggest names in Bollywood’. Chakraborty’s lawyer, Satish Maneshinde told CNN-News18 that Chakraborty had not implicated any actor during her interrogations. “Rhea Chakraborty has not named anybody in her statement. If NCB or anybody is making a statement that she has leaked, it’s totally false. There is no thread of evidence that suggests that Rhea Chakraborty has named anybody apart from what Sushant Singh Rajput had consumed all his life when she was with him.”

The NCB had launched an investigation into the drugs case after it received official communication from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which was investigating the money trail related to Singh Rajput’s death case. Chakraborty has said in her bail hearing that Singh Rajput used to take drugs, and would ask those close to him to procure them for him.