Deepika Padukone Leaves NCB Office After 5 Hours of Questioning
MUMBAI: Country’s top actor Deepika Padukone was questioned by the NCB for five hours on 26 September. Padukone was being questioned in connection with the investigation into a drug angle in Sushant Singh Rajput’s death.
Padukone was summoned by NCB on 23 September. Shraddha Kapoor, Sara Ali Khan and Rakul Preet Singh, among others, were also summoned for questioning on the same day. Shraddha Kapoor and Sara Ali Khan are also expected to appear before the agency on Saturday. Rakul Preet Singh was questioned by the NCB for four hours on 25 September.
“Rakul Preet Singh’s statement was recorded by the SIT today. It will be analysed and produced before the court,” Mutha Ashok Jain, NCB’s director general, told reporters.
Deepika Padukone’s manager Karishma Prakash and Rajput’s former manager Shruti Modi were also questioned in the case on Friday. Prakash has been summoned again on Saturday.
Mobile phones of actors Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan and Rakul Preet Singh have been seized by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in its widening probe into allegations of widespread drug abuse in Bollywood triggered by the death of Sushant Singh Rajput.
Ms Padukone was questioned for six hours on Saturday by the NCB in Mumbai. She was summoned, along with actors Shraddha Kapoor and Sara Ali Khan.
The NCB has also seized phones of talent manager Jaya Saha and fashion designer Simone Khambatta and sent them for forensic examination. Ms Padukone was questioned at the Evelyn Guest House in Mumbai’s Colaba, where the NCB’s Special Investigation Team has set up a base. Ms Kapoor and Ms Khan were also questioned separately at the NCB’s Ballard Estate office.
The probe into Bollywood’s drugs links started with actor Rhea Chakraborty’s questioning, three months after Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead at his Mumbai home on June 14. The investigation, involving multiple agencies, has captivated the nation, throwing up almost daily twists and wild speculation and campaigns on social media.
Sources in the NCB, whose mandate is to go after larger drug cartels and not individual consumers, have said the agency was summoning Bollywood A-listers to understand the network of supply through alleged consumers.
The actors have not been named as accused in any drugs probe case, and are only being questioned, agency sources have specified. During her questioning before arrest on September 9, Rhea Chakraborty reportedly named stars, including Sara Ali Khan and Rakul Preet Singh, in connection with drugs use. Her lawyer has denied this claim.
Sara Ali Khan was also Sushant Singh Rajput’s co-star in the film “Kedarnath”; Sushant Rajput developed the drugs habit while shooting the film, according to Rhea Chakraborty’s bail petition before the Bombay High Court.
The names of Deepika Padukone and Shraddha Kapoor were found in WhatsApp chats on the phone of Jaya Saha, Sushant Singh Rajput’s talent manager and a top executive of talent firm Kwan.
Jaya Saha has also been questioned by the drug probe agency. Sushant Singh’s family through their Advocate Vikas Singh had aired their displeasure over the direction of the probe calling “the NCB probe too going in the same direction like Mumbai Police probe… calling big names for questioning just to get attention”.
(Bureau Report with agency Inputs ).
