Kshitij Ravi Prasad, the former Dharmatic Entertainment executive producer arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in a Bollywood drug case, has told a special court that he has been “coerced into falsely implicating” actors Ranbir Kapoor , Dino Morea and Arjun Rampal by agency officials.
The NCB has rejected these accusations as “false and without foundation.”
Interestingly, Prasad’s attorney, Satish Maneshinde, had previously told the court that NCB officials were harassing and blackmailing the defendant into making a statement against filmmaker Karan Johar.
The special court of the Law on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) on Saturday sent Prasad into judicial custody until October 6.
In his last statement to the court, the defendant said: “After my previous statement, I have been repeatedly harassed and coerced into falsely implicating Ranbir Kapoor, Dino Morea and Arjun Rampal in the present proceedings.
“Even though I repeatedly said I did not tell people … and I am not aware of the allegations against him (sic),” Prasad stated.
He stated that since he refused to write those false statements (statement mentioning Kapoor, Morea and Rampal) in his own handwriting, “the complainant (NCB) has been preparing various false statements as per his wishes and trying to coerce me to sign them. “.
Prasad further stated that he was being harassed “mentally, emotionally and psychologically by the investigative agency (sic)”.
Special prosecutor Atul Sarpande told the court that Prasad’s allegations were completely unfounded and false. “We had neither taken these names nor did the defendant (Prasad) mention them (during his interrogation). We have shown his statement to the court,” he said.
According to the NCB, Prasad had purchased drugs from another defendant, Karmjeet and his associates.
The agency had previously arrested the late Rajput’s actor and girlfriend, Rhea Chakraborty, his brother Showik and others in connection with the Bollywood drug investigation.
The CBI is separately investigating the Rajput death case, in which the Bihar police searched Chakrabortys on the charge of instigating suicide.
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