Sushant Singh Rajput death: NCB questions Deepika Padukone’s ex-manager

Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officers on Wednesday questioned actor Deepika Padukone’s former manager Karishma Prakash for nearly six hours from 12.30pm at NCB

Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officers on Wednesday questioned actor Deepika Padukone’s former manager Karishma Prakash for nearly six hours from 12.30pm at NCB office in Ballard Estate, in connection with an alleged drug connection linked to actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death.

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“Her questioning has not been completed yet. Hence, she has been again summoned for questioning on Thursday,” said an NCB officer. Prakash was allowed to go home in the evening as women cannot be subjected to questioning post sunset as per law. Her lawyer had accompanied her, but he was not allowed to be present during questioning.

NCB officers refused to divulge the details of the questioning.

Prakash presented herself before NCB investigators on Wednesday afternoon after the central agency had given an assurance to a special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) court on Tuesday that it would not take any coercive action against Prakash. The assurance came as the court was hearing Prakash’s plea for anticipatory bail. Following this, Prakash, through her lawyer, had also informed the court that she will cooperate with the investigation.

While opposing Prakash’s plea in court, NCB’s counsel Atul Sarpande had said that her had name cropped up during the investigation of drug link connected to Rajput.

The agency had last week searched Prakash’s residence in Versova and recovered 1.7 gram hashish and three bottles of cannabidiol (CBD) oil. It is alleged that she was in contact with drug peddlers arrested in the case. NCB had questioned Prakash on September 25 and 26 for approximately 12 hours.

NCB has so far arrested 25 people in the case including actor Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik, Rajput’s staffers Samuel Miranda and Dipak Sawant, alleged drug peddlers Zaid Vilatra and Abdul Basit Parihar.

Chakraborty was granted bail by the Bombay high court on October 7, while her brother’s bail application was rejected. The special court on Tuesday extended his judicial custody till November 11.

“Prakash has tendered her resignation (from her service in KWAN) on October 21 with immediate effect and it was accepted. She now has nothing to do with KWAN or with any of the artists that the agency represents including Deepika Padukone. The ongoing investigations are on Karishma Prakash as an individual,” a statement by Vijay Subramaniam, co-founder and CEO of KWAN reads.