NCB raids Arjun Rampal's premises in drugs case

Mumbai: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Monday raided the premises of Bollywood actor Arjun Rampal. The searches were in connection with drugs-related cases the agency has registered in recent months.

On October 19, the NCB had arrested Agisilaos Demetriades, a brother of Rampal's south African girlfriend Gabriella Demetriades. NCB has also summoned veteran Bollywood filmmaker Firoz Nadiadwala in connection with the arrest of his wife Shabana Saeed and seizure of drugs from her. Shabana underwent a medical checkup at a government hospital.

Firoz Nadiadwala, who was not at home on Sunday when the NCB raided his premises, has been called for investigations after the agency seized drugs worth Rs 3.59 lakh from his home, other locations and from at least four drug peddlers.

The NCB swooped on Nadiadwala's Juhu home and other locations to recover 717.1 gm ganja, 74.1 gm charas and 95.1 gm MD (commercial quantity), besides another 10 gm of ganja from a peddler Wahid A. Kadir Shaikh, alias Sultan.

Maharashtra minister Anil Parab said the government will not allow anyone to malign Bollywood. "If drugs have been found in someone's possession or someone is consuming it and it's against the law, then action should be taken. But if someone is maligning Bollywood and working towards shifting it elsewhere from Mumbai then it's wrong. We won't let it happen.

"It is wrong to assume that the entire Bollywood is bad just because a few are involved in drugs. Action should be taken against those involved in it."Last month Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray talked about the attempts to malign and finish off the Mumbai film industry.