Bollywood actor Arjun Rampal was questioned by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in a drug-related investigation for about seven hours on Friday. The NCB, which questioned Rampal’s partner Gabriella Demetriades on Wednesday and Thursday, also arrested her friend Paul Bartel, a central agency official said.
“I have nothing to do with drugs. I have a prescription for the drug that was found at my residence and the prescription was given to NCB officials,” Rampal told reporters. “I am cooperating with the investigation and NCB officials are doing a good job,” said the actor-turned-model as he left NCB’s South Mumbai zonal office around 6pm.
He had arrived at the Ballard Estate office at 11 in the morning. Rampal, 47, had been subpoenaed in the case involving alleged drug use in the Hindi film industry, the NCB official said.
Also read: Bollywood drug case: NCB questions actor Arjun Rampal
His friend Paul Bartel, a foreign national, was arrested Thursday after questioning, the official added. The NCB summoned Rampal and his partner Demetriades after conducting a search at the actor’s residence in suburban Bandra on Monday.
The agency had seized electronic devices such as laptops, mobile phones and tablets during the search and also questioned the Rampal driver. The day before the search at Rampal’s home, the NCB arrested the wife of Bollywood producer Firoz Nadiadwala after ganja (cannabis) was allegedly found at her residence in the suburbs of Juhu.
Later, a city court granted him bail. The NCB launched the investigation into alleged drug use in Bollywood after the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput in June. Rajput’s girlfriend, actress Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik and a few others were arrested under the Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS). Rhea and some other defendants are currently out on bail.
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