Drug case closes in on celebs

Hyderabad: Telugu film industry, which squirmed under drug probe by the Special Investigation Team of the Telangana excise and prohibition enforcement in July, is now in for another shock as the investigation agency is all set to file chargesheets against the celebrities who were questioned during the probe.

A top source in the excise and prohibition department told The Hans India that the investigation was over and they had even received the Forensic Science Laboratory report which was under scrutiny by them.

The sources said that the charge sheets would soon be filed against some of the film actors who were questioned by the SIT. It may be mentioned here that the SIT had questioned many film personalities, including director Puri Jagannath, actors Ravi Teja, Subbaraju, Navdeep, actresses Mumaith Khan and Charmee and cinematographer Shyam K Naidu.

The SIT had also discreetly questioned students belonging to some corporate schools and also their parents. They did not reveal the names of schools and students but advised all such schools, colleges and parents to keep tabs on their wards to end drug addiction.

This is likely to create another storm in the film industry. The officials do not rule out the possibility of arrest of some of them. It may be mentioned here that the enforcement wing of the department has so far arrested 13 accused, including US citizen Dundu Anish -- an aerospace engineer who had earlier worked with the NASA, and seven BTech graduates, most of whom were working for multi-national companies.

Sources said that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has already instructed Excise and Enforcement Director Akun Sabharwal to speed up the investigation and wind up the case at the earliest. Officials confirmed that the charge sheets could not be filed against all the film personalities who were questioned during the investigation as the SIT did not possess sufficient evidence as yet to prove them guilty.

Before acting against those accused, the investigation team was likely to question them again to seek clarifications on certain gaps that were found in their replies when they were questioned in July.

If the charge sheets are filed, several issues like who encouraged the prime accused Calvin Mascrenhas and who all were aiding him in the drug scandal would become clear, the sources added.

However, the question now is whether the Excise and Prohibition department would file the charge sheets against the film personalities during the ongoing monsoon session of the State Assembly.