NCB questions comedian Bharti Singh, her husband after raiding their house in Mumbai
The anti-drug agency has launched a series of investigations into alleged drug consumption on film and TV personalities.
The Narcotics Control Bureau on Saturday questioned comedian Bharti Singh and her husband Harsh Limbachiyaa in a drugs case, NDTV reported. Singh and her husband arrived at the agency’s office soon after the NCB conducted a raid at their Mumbai residence on Saturday.
It is still unclear whether the two have been detained or not.
Both Singh and her husband are suspected to be using drugs, NDTV reported, quoting officials within the agency. The bureau found small a amount of cannabis at their home.
The anti-drug agency has launched a crackdown on film personalities’ allegedly drug-fuelled lifestyles ever since it began investigating Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. The agency claims to have unearthed a close nexus between illegal drug consumption and the film industry. On September 8, the NCB had arrested Bollywood actor Rhea Chakraborty in a drug case related to Rajput’s death, and also questioned Deepika Padukone, Shraddha Kapoor and Sara Ali Khan in the same matter.
The agency had described Chakraborty as an “active member of a drug syndicate”. She was granted bail on October 7.
The NCB had on November 8 arrested Shabana Saeed, the wife of Bollywood producer Firoz Nadiadwala, after investigators seized 10 grams of marijuana during a raid at her Juhu residence in Mumbai. She was sent to judicial custody but was granted bail the next day. On October 26, the agency had arrested five people in Mumbai, including television actor Preetika Chauhan.
On November 13, actor Arjun Rampal was questioned by the Narcotics Control Bureau in Mumbai in a drugs case. His partner Gabriella Demetriades was also interrogated by the central agency for almost six hours for two days before his interrogation. The NCB had summoned Rampal and Demetriades after it raided the Mumbai residence of the 47-year-old actor. The central agency said it has seized electronic gadgets from the actor and asked him to join the investigation on November 11.
The NCB had previously taken Rampal’s partner Gabriella Demetriades’ brother Agisilaos Demetriades into custody for links with peddlers arrested in an ongoing drug case linked to Rajput’s death. The NCB has also arrested Paul Bartel, an Australian architect whose name emerged in the questioning of Agisilaos Demetriades.