Bollywood drugs case: Arjun Rampal seeks time till December 22 to appear before NCB

A senior NCB officer said that the facts revealed by the actor in his statement contradict the information revealed by the other accused. Also, there are new facts that have emerged during the ongoing investigation, hence he needed to be questioned again

Actor Arjun Rampal has sought time till December 22 to appear before the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). The Central agency had summoned him again to question him in connection with the Bollywood drugs case. NCB had already questioned Rampal and his partner Gabriella Demetriades in the past and had also arrested Gabriella’s brother in the case.

Bollywood actor Arjun Rampal. (HT file)

An NCB officer confirmed the development on Wednesday. A senior NCB officer said, “The facts revealed by the actor previously in his statement contradict the information revealed by the other accused. Also, there are new facts that have emerged during the ongoing investigation, hence he needed to be questioned again.”

Last month, the Central anti-narcotics agency had conducted a search at Rampal’s residence in Bandra and had seized electronics gadgets and some medicine which are restricted under the NDPS Act. He was then questioned for nearly seven hours on November 13.

His partner Demetriades was questioned twice after she was held responsible for the narcotics. NCB involved Rampal and Demetriades in the investigation after they discovered the involvement of Demetriades’ brother Agisilaos Demetriades in drug cases and found that he was in touch with many Bollywood celebrities, said an NCB officer.

Agisilaos was arrested on October 17 from a resort at Lonawala. NCB officials recovered 0.8 grams of a black-coloured sticky substance purported to be hashish (charas). Alprazolam tablets were also found in a search at his Khar residence.

Officials said Agisilaos was in constant touch with several drug peddlers who allegedly supplied drugs to Rhea Chakraborty’s brother Showik and others persons arrested for their alleged involvement in the drug case related to death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, said NCB officials.

Electronic evidence showed that he was in touch with Dipesh Sawant and Samuel Miranda, who are linked with Rhea and Showik Chakraborty.

NCB, which has been investigating the drug angle into late actor Rajput’s death, has till now arrested 28 people, including Bollywood celebrities like comedienne Bharti Singh and her husband Haarsh Limbachiyaa.

Previously, top actors like Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan, Shraddha Kapoor and Rakul Preet Singh have also been questioned by the NCB officials.