Ragini Dwivedi made her debut in the film Veera Madakari in 2009.
Bangalore:
Kannada actor Ragini Dwivedi, whose home was searched on Friday morning for an investigation into drug abuse, has been arrested, police said.
The Central Crime Branch (CCB) had served the actor a notice Wednesday, asking him to appear before them on Thursday, but she sent a team of attorneys looking for time until Monday.
However, police raided Ms. Dwivedi’s residence early this morning after obtaining a search warrant from a court and brought her to the CCB office in the afternoon for questioning, an officer said.
Later in the evening, in a statement, Bengaluru Joint Police (Crime) Commissioner Sandeep Patil said: “Ragini Dwivedi has been arrested and taken into custody.”
In addition, the actor, two people named Rahul and Viren Khanna were arrested, he said. With this, four people have been arrested in the case.
Police had previously said that they had arrested one K Ravishankar, who has ties to the Kannada film industry, in connection with the drug case and a court has sent him into police custody for five days.
According to the police, Viren Khanna is a great match. “He (Khanna) is the main person organizing big drug parties. He was in Delhi and two CCB police inspectors had gone to Delhi and arrested him,” said Patil.
K Ravishankar, also known as Ravi, an employee of the Road Transport Office, was arrested on Thursday, while Rahul, a real estate broker, was detained in Fruday, Bengaluru Police Commissioner Kamal Pant said.
They both frequently went to high-end parties and obtained drugs from foreigners, he said, adding that they were both street vendors and consumers.
The actor was in close contact with Ravi, the police chief said.
According to Pant, the police have launched the second level of investigation based on his revelations and consequently other people have also been called in for questioning.
The CCB had stepped up its investigation into a Bengaluru drug scandal after the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) arrested three people from the city, allegedly supplying drugs to singers and actors in the Kannada film industry.
The scandal comes amid allegations of drug use surrounding the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput in June.
Ragini Dwivedi, whose family is from Rewari of Haryana, was born in Bengaluru. He made his debut in the movie. Veera Madakari in 2009.
Rose to fame for her role in Kempe gowda, IPS Ragini, Bangari and Shiva.
(With PTI inputs)
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