Yuvraj, actors grilled in Sandalwood drugs case

Bengaluru: Former city corporator, Yuvraj R V, actor Santosh Kumar and Kannada anchor Akul Balaji on Saturday appeared before the Central Crime Branch (CCB) officials who are investigating the drugs case.

Three different police inspectors and their team interrogated them separately, official sources said. The interrogation began at around 10 am and went on till about 5 pm and they have gathered information from them, they said. CCB officials on Friday had said that during the investigation into the drugs case at Cottonpet police station, certain information was gathered, and it was felt necessary to question Akul Balaji, Santhosh Kumar and former Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike corporator Yuvaraj R V.

Yuvraj R V is also the son of former MLA, R V Devraj. Speaking to reporters ahead of appearing before the CCB, Akul Balaji said he will cooperate with the inquiry, because things are happening for a good cause. "...why should I fear when I have done nothing wrong," he said. Responding to a question, Balaji said he had only "hi-bye" friendship with Vaibhav Jain, one of the accused in the case.

Actor Santosh too said he knew Vaibhav Jain in connection with renting out his property for events, but had nothing to do with the drug case, and neither he had any information about Jain's involvement in drugs. The trio was questioned separately as this was a preliminary investigation, the CCB police claimed. Speaking to reporters, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), Sandeep Patil said that all the three appeared on Saturday and they were subjected to thorough interrogation based on evidence available so far during investigation of the present case. "We will analyse and further course of action would be taken in future," he said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, Aryann Santosh Kumar who came to the CCB office, asserted that he knew the accused Vaibhav Jain, actress Sanjjanna Galrani and Rahul Tanka. "I know Vaibhav Jain for the last five years but I was not aware he was an addict or a peddler. But I wanted to sell my villa and had handed over keys to him in order to show and sell my property to prospective buyers," he claimed.

"He had organised parties in my villa too but they weren't rave parties. We had a tiff on this matter last January itself, as he was bringing in a big crowd. Since then we stopped speaking to each other," added Santosh Kumar. Celebrated TV anchor, Akul Balaji asserted that he knew both Vaibhav Jain and (techie-turned-drug-peddler) Prateek Shetty but they were just acquaintances and not friends. "I will join hands with the CCB to end the drug mafia in the state," he declared while entering the office.

Meanwhile, Yuvaraj asserted that he was never in touch with them and he was never a part of their friend's circle. "I only know this much that Vaibhav was an events organiser, I did not know,what type of events he used to organise," he claimed.

The trio was questioned over their alleged participation in high-end parties organised by Vaibhav Jain

Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai, police have so far arrested 13 people in connection with drug peddling and substance abuse case and "trap has been laid" to nab others involved. CCB police investigation into the drugs case has led to arrests of prominent people including actresses Ragini Dwivedi, Sanjjanaa Galrani, and high-end party planner Viren Khanna among others.