The Union home ministry, in a written reply to a question in Parliament, said there has been no 'actionable input' from the Narcotics Control Bureau on this.
No evidence of nexus between film personalities and drug dealers, admits govt
Mumbai - 15 Sep 2020 22:57 IST
Our Correspondent
Claims of rampant drug abuse in the Hindi film industry and a nexus between some industry folk and drug dealers have been made by a section of the electronic media and some disgruntled members of the industry, leading to a lot of finger-pointing among fans.
However, the ministry of home affairs of the government of India has admitted in Parliament that there is no evidence of any such link between drug dealers and the industry during the COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdown.
Answering an unstarred question in the Lok Sabha today on whether the government has conducted a detailed inquiry into the alleged nexus between people from the film industry and the drug trade, minister of state for home affairs G Kishan Reddy admitted in a written reply that 'no such actionable inputs were received by [the] NCB [Narcotics Control Bureau] revealing the nexus' during the lockdown.
In his reply, the minister said a drug case had been registered by the Mumbai zonal unit of the NCB on 28 August (probably referring to the case involving actress Rhea Chakraborty) and 10 people had been arrested for possession of various drugs.
#ParliamentQuestions: Whether Govt has conducted a detailed inquiry in the nexus between people in the film industry & those involved in drug-trade?
— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) September 15, 2020
Home Ministry: No such actionable inputs were received by NCB revealing the nexus between the film industry & drug traffickers pic.twitter.com/VvhKsuGqdB
The actress was arrested last week by the NCB in connection with the alleged drug angle in boyfriend Sushant Singh Rajput's death. Rajput was found dead in his apartment in Bandra, Mumbai, on 14 June.
Some reports claimed that Chakraborty had named actresses Sara Ali Khan and Rakul Preet Singh and designer Simone Khambatta during the NCB probe and a list of Hindi film personalities connected with the drug trade was being prepared. But KPS Malhotra, NCB deputy director, told The Times of India newspaper that while Chakraborty did name the three, the agency has not compiled any list.
“There has been an issue over whether the names of Sara, Simone and Rakul surfaced during the investigations. The answer to that is ‘yes’. And on whether the NCB has prepared a list of 25 'Bollywood' personalities, the answer to that is ‘no’,” he told the publication.
