We are shocked, but no drugs in Sandalwood

Bengaluru: Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) Umesh Banakar vice-president on Friday said the news that actors and musicians were involved in drugs has shocked him, but said the former TV actress who was arrested was no way connected to the entertainment industry.

"The investigation is at a preliminary stage. The NCB said the accused were supplying drugs to some Sandalwood celebrities, college students and some affluent sections of the society. The news has shocked me. I verified about the said lady with our association, but she is nowhere connected to the entertainment industry. The allegations that Sandlwood actors and musicians are involved in drugs is baseless, " Umesh Banakar said.

The NCB seized145 ecstasy or MDMA pills and over Rs 2.2 lakh cash from Royal Suits Hotel Apartment, Kalyan Nagar on August 21. In the follow-up action, the team confiscated 96 pills of MDMA and 180 LSD blots at Nikoo homes in Bengaluru. Later, 270 pills of MDMA were recovered from the house of Anikha D, located at Doddagubbi.

Anikha is a small-time television serial actress. She is one of the two others who were arrested in the drugs deal. Sources say that Ravindran was the main distributor after the receivers booked their drugs online. Anikha with her acting industry background had managed to establish contacts with some Sandalwood celebrities and started supplying drugs to them. NCB officials found over 2,000 numbers saved in his mobiles, which included at least 10 top Kannada cinema actors, prominent musicians and children of VIPs.

The Bengaluru police also arrested three drug peddlers who had been supplying drugs at multiple locations in Karnataka, and also seized 204 kg of cannabis worth Rs one crore from their possession, an official said on Thursday.

"Large haul of drugs seized by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) anti-narcotics wing and three drug peddlers were arrested," said Sandeep Patil, Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime.

The peddlers -- Kaisar Pasha, 41, Sameeer, 37, both from Mysuru and Ismail Sharif, 38, -- were held under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

They were supplying drugs in Bengaluru, Ramnagar, Mysuru, Chikkaballapura and other places.

Explaining the modus operandi of the drug peddlers, a police official said the accused used tankers to ferry the drugs.

"They were procuring the drugs from Andhra Pradesh in lorries and tankers till the outer district from where they shifted the drugs in smaller quantities of 25-30 kg into cars for further supply," said a police official to IANS.

East Godavari district in the coastal region of the neighbouring state was identified to be the place from where the accused were sourcing the drugs.

According to police, transferring the drugs through tankers and trucks used to help them hoodwink the police.

A police team led by Patil caught the drug suppliers when such a tanker was being used to shift the drugs in smaller quantities into a car at Devanahalli on the outskirts of the city.

The accused were supplying the drugs to students, IT professionals, labourers, businessmen and others, police added.