Comedians Raju Srivastava and Sunil Pal have reacted to Bharti Singh’s arrest by the Narcotics Control Bureau. Raju and Sunil have said that they are shocked at her arrest and disappointed at more and more names from showbiz getting embroiled in the drugs case.
Both Bharti and her husband Haarsh Limbachiya have accepted consumption of ganja (cannabis), NCB said in a statement. NCB on Saturday raided the production office and house of the comedian and from both the places 86.5 gms of ganja was recovered.
Speaking to Zee News, Sunil Pal said he had worked with Bharti Singh and did not expect her to get named in the case. “I am shocked at the news. It is traumatic for me because I have seen Bharti become successful from nothing. I was the one who introduced her on the Great Indian Laughter Challenge and I saw how popular she got with her work. I was happy, she thought of me as a brother and greeted me with folded hands. She is a sanskari (cultured) and sweet girl. Even Harsh is a good boy. So how and where all of this started, what sort of groupism this is that is provoking her to take drugs, I am very shocked and sad,” he said. However, Sunil maintained that a few named cropping in the controversy do not mean that all are to be blamed as corrupt. He gave his own example, Johnny Lever, Lata Mangeshkar and Amitabh Bachchan’s as talented stars who don’t do drugs but are still successful.
Raju Srivastav said he is also shocked at the news. “Can Bharti or her husband Harsh do something like this? My heart is not ready to accept it. What is this? People love you so much, millions of people call you their idol, put your photos on their mobiles, hang them in their homes. They want to be like you and they have been tricked. What is the need to do all of this? It’s not like taking drugs will make you good comedians, or it will give you energy. I am so sad. I was here to defend her on your show, that our Bharti is not like that and that she is a pure artist. But now I see the news that Bharti has been arrest, she has confessed, the police got proof and confiscated ganja from her home. What is even happening? What kind of comedy is this? Where is our film world going?”
{{/usCountry}}Raju Srivastav said he is also shocked at the news. “Can Bharti or her husband Harsh do something like this? My heart is not ready to accept it. What is this? People love you so much, millions of people call you their idol, put your photos on their mobiles, hang them in their homes. They want to be like you and they have been tricked. What is the need to do all of this? It’s not like taking drugs will make you good comedians, or it will give you energy. I am so sad. I was here to defend her on your show, that our Bharti is not like that and that she is a pure artist. But now I see the news that Bharti has been arrest, she has confessed, the police got proof and confiscated ganja from her home. What is even happening? What kind of comedy is this? Where is our film world going?”
{{/usCountry}}“Every time me, Sunil, Kapil gather, we talk about how a female comedian became so big after so long. She is doing such good work and has opened the line for so many women. Long time ago, there was Tuntun. There was a long gap between that time and then there was Bharti and she became so popular. We were so happy about how she is doing good work,” Raju said.
Raju further added, “All this artists, Bharti, Shraddha (Kapoor) and others, if they have free time that they do not know what to do with and start taking drugs, start working on keeping yourself fit. There is so much to do. You are artists, you appear on the big screen. Do you yoga, exercise. If you have time, do theatre, watch good movies.” Shraddha was also questioned by the NCB in the drugs case in September.
Raju said that when he was invited to Bharti’s wedding, he had a good time with the couple. He never doubted if Bharti was being her usual happy self or was under any influence. He added that perhaps the NCB has been tricked by a drug peddler who took Bharti’s name to get the agency off his back.
NCB had earlier raided a place in Khar Danda area and nabbed a trafficker, aged 21 years, with various drugs including 15 blots of LSD (commercial quantity), ganja (40 grams), and Nitrazepam (psychotropic medicines). In follow up and in corroboration with previous inputs, NCB raided the production office and house of comedian Bharti Singh. This comes as the probe, which began from the drug case in connection with the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, continues to expand to the alleged drug abuse by Bollywood celebrities.
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