Deepika Padukone’s manager Karishma Prakash had missed a summons before (Archive)
Bombay:
A Mumbai court gave Karishma Prakash, manager of actor Deepika Padukone, time to appear before the Bureau of Narcotics Control without being arrested. Ms. Prakash had requested advance bond, after which the special court granted her provisional relief until November 7.
Ms. Prakash will have to appear before the Office of Narcotics Control (NCD) for questioning, but cannot be arrested until November 7. Prakash had lost the subpoena from the drug agency and the NCB had said it could not be traced.
The NCB had searched a property linked to her and issued a subpoena to her, after which officials had seized some materials from her home.
The NCB is investigating a drug case linked to the film industry and has questioned several actors including Ms Padukone, Sara Ali Khan, Rakulpreet Singh and Shraddha Kapoor. The investigation began after the Compliance Directorate handed over alleged “drug chats” that the agency said were recovered from the phone of actress Rhea Chakraborty, who had also been questioned by the Compliance Directorate.
Chakraborty was named in a complaint filed in Patna by the parents of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, who alleged that her actions led to the actor’s death.
The case was finally turned over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after a dispute over jurisdiction between the Mumbai Police and the Patna Police. The ED, which had demonstrated the money laundering angle, has not found any evidence of wrongdoing by Ms Chakraborty so far.
However, the actor was arrested by the NCB for allegedly acquiring drugs for Mr. Rajput.
The Bombay High Court granted Ms. Chakraborty bail and said there was no evidence to suggest that she was part of a drug syndicate as the investigating agency had alleged when it arrested her.
Ms. Prakash’s name appeared in some WhatsApp chats, after which she was questioned in September. At the time, Ms. Padukone was also questioned after her name was allegedly featured on some WhatsApp group linked to the drug case and where both she and her manager were members.
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