Drugs case: Telugu film director Puri Jagannadh appears before ED

Noted Telugu film director Puri Jagannadh, on Tuesday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) here after being summoned in connection with a money laundering probe linked to a drugs case.

Jagannadh, the "Pokiri" fame director, also a screen writer and producer, is among the over 10 Tollywood (Telugu film industry) personalities, who were earlier summoned by the ED.

A drug racket was busted in July 2017 and several cases related to drug trafficking were registered and over 20 people arrested including a US citizen, who was a former aerospace engineer and had worked with the NASA.

Names of some Tollywood personalities surfaced during the interrogation of people arrested in connection with the drug racket.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Telangana's Prohibition and Excise department, as part of its investigation had also probed the alleged drug links with Tollywood, and questioned 11 people from the Telugu film industry including actors and had also collected hair and nail samples.

The SIT questioned them to ascertain if they had any links with the racket or suppliers or with those arrested. Now, the ED has summoned the Tollywood personalities who were questioned by SIT.

The racketeers used to sell high-end drugs such as LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) and MDMA (methylenedioxy- methamphetamine) after placing orders for them on the dark net and the banned narcotics were delivered by courier.

The SIT had suspected that the gang's clientele included students of city-based schools and colleges, people associated with Tollywood, senior officials of MNCs and employees of IT firms in Cyberabad.