Bangalore: After questioning her for more than six hours, City Crime Branch (CCB) detectives arrested Sandalwood lead actress Ragini Dwivedi on Friday night in connection with links to drugs that have rocked the film industry in Kannada.
Earlier in the evening, the CCB also arrested Rahul, a friend of another Sandalwood actress, Sanjana Gulrani.
Ragini is the third person arrested in connection with the Sandalwood Drug Link and the first Kannada actress to be arrested.
Two lawyers also came to his apartment in Yalahanka and then to the CCB office. They also approached court seeking an advance bond for Ragini. However, in the afternoon, the court dismissed the advance bond. CCB detectives decided to arrest her and seek police custody for further questioning. Plus, there’s no way Ragini can get bail until Monday.
In addition to this link to drugs, Ragini’s name was also carried over in 2017, when a drug dealer named Pratheek Shetty was arrested. However, it remained as a rumor and Ragini got away with it. On Friday, Ragini was also questioned regarding the 2017 case.
Previously, CCB continued to question Rahul, who is a relative of Ragini’s boyfriend, Ravi Shankar, who worked with the Karnataka Department of Transportation. After arresting him, the police took him to Sanjana’s home in Indiranagar, but they did not question her.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka government suspended Ravi Shankar from his services on Friday after he was arrested in the drug-related case.
In another development, CCB detectives arrested a drug dealer named Viren Khanna from his residence in New Delhi. Khanna’s name appeared during the interrogation of Ravi Shankar and the police team had already left for New Delhi on Thursday.
Khanna was brought before a court in New Delhi and taken into police custody for four days. Police said Khanna used to organize large parties where drugs were used. They take him to Bengaluru for further questioning.
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