Updated: September 4, 2020 7:41:00 pm
Dwivedi, whose family comes from the Rewari of Haryana, was born in Bengaluru. (Photo: Ragini Dwivedi / Twitter)
Bengaluru’s Central Crime Branch (CCB), which is investigating the threat of drugs in Kannada’s film industry, arrested actor Ragini Dwivedi on Friday after questioning her following a raid on her residence this morning.
A team of CCB detectives, including female officials, arrived at Dwivedi’s residence at Judicial Layout in northeast Bengaluru around 6 am after obtaining a search warrant from the court. Police said important materials were seized from her home.
Meanwhile, the police have arrested another defendant in the case. Sandeep Patil, Joint Police Commissioner (Crime), told indianexpress.com, “Another defendant, Viren Khanna, has also been arrested. She is the main person who organizes large parties where drugs are used. He was in Delhi, two policemen went to Delhi and arrested him from there, they took him 4 days in police custody. “
On Wednesday, the CCB had delivered a notice asking the actress to appear before them on Thursday, but she sent a team of lawyers looking for time until Monday. The police ordered him to appear before them on Friday.
On Thursday, an employee of the Second Division (SDC) of the Regional Transportation Office and a close assistant to the actor were arrested in connection with the case. K Ravishankar, a resident of Vijayanagara, is currently in police custody for five days.
In a tweet Thursday, Ragini had said that he would appear before the police on Monday morning. “I am grateful for all the concern expressed by the public about a notice I received yesterday. As I received it on very short notice, I was unable to appear before the CCB police today. However out of respect for the law process. My defenders have appeared before the police, have explained my difficulty of not being able to appear today and have looked for time. I promise to appear Monday morning before the police, “he had posted on the microblogging site.
The CCB intensified its investigation into a drug trade in Bengaluru after the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) arrested three people from the city, allegedly supplying drugs to singers and actors in the Kannada film industry, also known as “Sandalwood”.
Filmmaker and journalist Indrajit Lankesh recently gave his statement in this regard to the CCB. He claimed that at least 15 people from the industry were involved in drug trafficking.
Dwivedi, whose family comes from the Rewari of Haryana, was born in Bengaluru. She made her Sandalwood debut in the film “Veera Madakari” in 2009. She rose to fame for her roles in Kempe Gowda, Ragini IPS, Bangari and Shiva.
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