Bengaluru: CFSL report confirms drug abuse by Sanjana, Ragini

Bengaluru: In a serious setback to Sandalwood actresses Sanjana Galrani and Ragini Dwivedi, the Bengaluru police, probing the alleged drug abuse in the Kannada film industry, on Tuesday said the Central Forensic Science Laboratory report confirmed that the two were consuming substances.

Apart from the two actresses, party organiser Viren Khanna, former minister late Jeevaraj Alva's son Aditya Alva were among those arrested in the drugs case by the Bengaluru police.

"I am proud to announce that our Bengaluru police had worked swiftly and impartially in investigating the cases. There is a good development in the case filed last year in September," Bengaluru Police Commissioner Kamal Pant told reporters here.

He said the inquiry by the CCB and the evidences gathered by the team painstakingly resulted in a positive report from the Forensic Science Laboratory in Hyderabad. Pant further said, "We have filed a charge sheet in the court, so I cannot say anything at this juncture but the FSL report has clearly proved that some people used to take drugs."

Hair samples of the accused were collected and sent to Hyderabad for tests and the report received now has established that they were doing drugs. According to police, the report will help during the trial of the case to prove the point that those arrested were drug users as well.

Hailing the CCB for leading a speedy, fair and impartial investigation, Pant said this case was a lesson for the police officers because they were not sure whether they will be able to prove because this was never done so scientifically in the past.

"Now we are confident that we will get all the evidences. This is a victory for the CCB," the official said. Besides people from Kannada film industry, a few African nationals were also arrested. A few police officers who were leaking the information to the accused were also suspended during the course of investigation.

The CCB swung into action after the Narcotics Control Bureau arrested Mohammed Anoop, Rijesh Ravindran and Anikha Dinesh in August 2020 for allegedly possessing drugs. The NCB said the trio was supplying drugs to people in the Kannada film industry.

The lab had rejected the samples of hair of the actresses for the first time and fresh samples were sent. The samples were sent nine months ago.

The hair samples were sent for the first time in the drugs case in the State. Since the drug traces could be found for up to one year. Generally, blood and urine samples were sent as drugs could be detected only within 24 to 48 hours.