The Home Office (MHA) said in Parliament on Tuesday that it has not found any actionable intelligence to suggest that there is a link between Bollywood celebrities and drug traffickers.
However, he said, the Office of Narcotics Control (NCB) is investigating a case in this regard.
The anti-drug investigation agency had registered a second case on August 28, a branch of the investigation against actor Rhea Chakraborty, to investigate a link between several people in Mumbai in the supply of drugs.
The agency has already arrested 10 people in this particular case, mainly drug suppliers and conduits. Based on a referral from the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), NCB had filed a case against Rhea and her family members on August 26. She was arrested on September 8 and is currently in judicial custody.
“During the Covid-19 lockdown period, NCB received no such actionable input that would reveal the nexus between people in the film industry and drug traffickers. However, the NCB Mumbai zonal unit registered a case in this regard on August 28, 2020, ”said Union State Minister for Home G Kishan Reddy in a written response on the Lok Sabha.
“Drugs such as marijuana, hashish, tetrahydrocannabinol and lysergic acid desethylamide were seized in the operation,” MHA said. The ministry was responding to a query from Kumbakudi Sudhakaran, a Kerala congressional lawmaker, who asked whether the government had conducted a detailed investigation into the nexus between people in the film industry and those involved in drug trafficking during Covid- 19.
The NCB depends on the Ministry of the Interior of the Union.
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