Actor Navdeep grilled for 11 hours in drug case

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Hyderabad drug racket grilled Telugu actor P. Navdeep for over 11 hours on Monday.

While leaving Abkari Bhavan, the office of the Telangana Prohibition and Excise Department here on Monday night, he told reporters that he gave a clear reply to all the questions asked by the officials regarding his dealing with an event manager.

"Everything is okay," said the young actor. The SIT officials told him that if necessary, he would be called again for questioning.

Navdeep was quizzed about his links with Zeeshan Ali Khan alias Jack, one of the accused arrested in the case. The actor admitted that he knew Khan as an event manager but denied involvement in any illegal activity.

Navdeep is the fifth southern filmdom celebrity being questioned by the authorities for alleged links with drug peddlers arrested in the case.

The actor, one of the 12 celebrities summoned by the SIT for questioning, has already denied taking drugs or having any links with the peddlers.

"It is usual to sensationalise news as soon as there are film people involved, me being involved in events and working with some wrong event managers I can understand why this happened," Navdeep had tweeted on July 14.

Art director Dharma Rao alias Chinna will appear before SIT on Tuesday.

The investigating officials on Saturday grilled actor Tarun. They had quizzed actor Subbaraju on Friday. Known for his negative roles in many films, Subbaraju had reportedly provided leads to the SIT for further investigations.

The SIT earlier questioned director Puri Jagannadh and cinematographer Shyam K. Naidu.

The celebrities were summoned for questioning as their contact numbers were found in the call data of Calvin Mascrenhas, the kingpin of the racket.

Actors Ravi Teja and Nandu, actresses Charmee Kaur and Mumaith Khan are among the other celebrities who will be questioned this week.

The enforcement wing of the department has so far arrested 19 accused, including US citizen Dundu Anish -- an aerospace engineer who had earlier worked with the NASA, and seven B.Tech graduates, most of whom were working for multi-national companies.

--IANS

ms/vd