Drug racket: SIT conducts fresh raids in Hyd,quizzes actress

Special investigation team (SIT) of Telangana's excise department today conducted fresh raids in parts of the city here in connection with a state-wide online drug racket and also questioned actress Mumaith Khan for seven hours, officials said.
Searches/raids are continuing in different places in the city, said officials of Telangana's Prohibition and Excise Department.
According to the officials, the SIT, which has been questioning several Telugu film personalities in connection with its ongoing probe into the high-end drug racket busted here on July 2, today questioned Mumaith Khan, the popular actress known for item numbers in Telugu films.
"Mumaith Khan's questioning started at 10 am and got over by 5 pm. Four officials, including three women sleuths, examined her," the Excise officials said, adding that the proceedings have been video-graphed.

After being summoned by the SIT, Khan had to leave a reality show, she was participating in, to present herself for questioning this morning.
Apart from Telugu movies, the actress has also appeared in Hindi, Tamil and Kannada films.

She is the eighth person from the Telugu film industry to appear before the SIT, which has summoned 12 people, including directors and actors, for questioning in the case.
SIT sleuths had yesterday questioned actress Charmi Kaur at its office here.
During the investigation into the drug racket, names of some members of the Telugu film industry had cropped up, the SIT had said.

Since July 19, the SIT has questioned filmmaker Puri Jagannadh, cinematographer Shyam K Naidu, actors P Subba Raju, Tarun Kumar and P Navdeep, art director Dharma Rao alias Chinna and actress Charmi Kaur besides Khan.
Popular Telugu actor Ravi Shankar Raju Bhupatiraju alias Ravi Teja is scheduled to appear before the SIT tomorrow, the officials said.
The SIT yesterday arrested a Dutch national, Mike Kamminga (33), in connection with the ongoing investigation into the case of drugs being supplied in Hyderabad and claimed to have seized psychotropic substances from him.
The excise officials have so far arrested 20 people, including US citizen Dundu Anish, a former aerospace engineer who had worked with the NASA, and seven BTech degree-holders employed with multi-national companies in Hyderabad.

The racket was involved in the supply of high-end drugs such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and methylenedioxy- methamphetamine (MDMA). The investigators suspect that film personalities, employees of MNCs, school and college students were among its clients.
The racketeers placed orders through 'Darknet,' a restricted online network frequently used in illegal activities and the drugs were delivered by couriers, including from overseas, the officials had said.