Actor Ajaz Khan arrested in drugs case
The actor denied consuming or possessing any illegal drugs.
Actor Ajaz Khan was on Wednesday arrested in connection with a drug consumption case by the Narcotics Control Bureau, ANI reported.
The investigators took him for a medical check-up after which he will be produced before a court in Mumbai for remand.
The central agency had detained Khan on Tuesday after conducting raids at two locations in Mumbai. He was taken into custody from the city airport upon his arrival from Rajasthan, according to NDTV. The NCB said it had found alprazolam tablets from his home during searches in the city’s Andheri locality.
The NCB alleged that Khan was part of a drug syndicate ran by peddler Shadab Farooque Shaikh alias Shadab Batata, according to NDTV. Shaikh was arrested last week after over 2 kg of the banned mephedrone drug were recovered from him.
The actor has denied the allegations levelled against him, claiming that the investigators had only found four sleeping pills in his house. “My wife has suffered a miscarriage and is using these pills as antidepressants,” he said.
Khan has appeared in Lakeer Ka Fakeer, Heart Attack Ya Rab Veta, Temper among other movies.
The central agency began investigating claims of widespread drug use and trafficking in Bollywood after the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Several celebrities including Deepika Padukone, Arjun Rampal, Shraddha Kapoor, and Sara Ali Khan have been questioned by the NCB in connection with the case.
Rajput was found dead in his Mumbai apartment on June 14, in what the police initially said appeared to be a case of suicide. But subsequently Rajput’s family filed a complaint with the Bihar Police accusing his former live-in partner Rhea Chakraborty of abetment of suicide. She denied the allegation.
Three central agencies – the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Enforcement Directorate, the Narcotics Control Bureau – took up cases against her.
Chakraborty was eventually arrested for consuming drugs. She was granted bail on October 7 after a court observed that the actor was not part of any drug syndicate and had no criminal record. It said Chakraborty could not have financed or supported illegal drug trafficking as alleged by the narcotics agency.