Comedian Bharti Singh's House Raided By Anti-Drugs Agency
Mumbai: Comedian Bharti Singh's Mumbai residence is being raided by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), according to a report by news agency ANI on Saturday morning. Sources within the agency said Ms Singh and her husband have been accused of consuming banned substances.
The raids come amid an expanding probe - which began with inquiries into the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput in June - into alleged drug use by members of the entertainment industry.
Earlier this month actor Arjun Rampal's home was searched, and both he and his girlfriend, Gabriella Demetriades, were summoned for questioning.
Ms Demetriades was questioned over two days (for a total of 12 hours) while Mr Rampal was questioned for six hours last week. As he was leaving the agency's office in south Mumbai, he clarified that the substances found by the NCB at his residence were part of a prescription.
"I am fully cooperating with the investigation. I have nothing to do with drugs. The medicine found at my residence was prescribed. The prescription has been found and handed over," he said.
The NCB had earlier also arrested Paul Bartel, an Australian architect whose name emerged as an alleged supplier after the questioning of Agisialos Demetriades - a South African national who is Ms Demetriades's brother and is currently in the agency's custody.
Mr Bartel was granted bail on Thursday. According to news agency PTI, the special court that granted him relief observed there was no "substantial material" to prove wrongdoing on his part.
Prior to that the NCB had also summoned film producer Firoz Nadiadwala. A day earlier his wife, Shabana Saeed, was arrested after investigators allegedly found 10 grams of marijuana at their home in Mumbai's Juhu during a raid. Ms Saeed has since been released on bail.
The Nadiadwala residence had been searched following the arrest of drug peddler Wahid Abdul Kadir Shaikh in Andheri a few days before that. As the agency tracked Shaikh's clients, links to Ms Saeed, who allegedly purchased 10 grams of the contraband from him, emerged, the NCB said.
