Drug racket: After Mamta Kulkarni, cops begin probing Bollywood, TV actors

July 2, 2016

Thane, Jul 2: The city police, which recently busted a multi-crore drug racket, is probing some Bollywood and television actors for their alleged involvement in the case. Former film actress Mamta Kulkarni has already been named as a prime accused in the case linked to international drug lord and her partner Vicky Goswami.

mamtaAccording to a senior Thane police official, they are probing the leads received about the involvement of a Bollywood personality, who acted in films in the 80s and 90s, besides a TV actress and some small-time actors in the case after their names cropped up during investigations. These people, who are under the scanner, allegedly attended meetings in Mumbai hotels, where Goswami discussed the mode of drug supply. Also, some of them are in close contact with kingpin Goswami, the official said without taking any names.

Earlier, Thane Police had told media persons that one of the arrested persons in the case had in a statement under section 164 of CrPC given details of the modus operandi and about the crucial meetings held in Kenya and Dubai regarding the ephedrine sale.

In all, there were 17 accused in the case, of whom seven were still at large. The remaining 10 have been arrested and are now in judicial custody. The arrests were made when police seized around 18.5 tonne of ephedrine, worth approximately Rs 2,000 crore, after raiding the premises of Avon Lifesciences Ltd in Maharashtra's Solapur district in April. According to police, ephedrine, which is a controlled drug, was allegedly being diverted from the Solapur unit of Avon Lifesciences and sent abroad after processing.

The ephedrine power is used for sniffing and is also used to produce popular party drug methamphetamine. The accused currently in jail are: Sagar Suresh Powle, Mayur Suresh Sukhdhare, Rajendra Jagdambaprasad Dimri, Dhaneshwar Rajaram Swami, Puneet Ramesh Shringi, Manoj Tejraj Jain, Hardipsingh Indersingh Gill, Narendra Dhirajlal Kacha, Babasaheb Shankar Dhotre and Jai Mulji Mukhi.

Those on the run include Kishore Rathod, said to be the son of a former politician, and an accused identified only as Dr Abdullah, who is based abroad, as well as two of his associates, police said.

The entire drug racket first came to light when Thane Police arrested a Nigerian national in a drug case on April 12. His interrogation led police to Solapur, where they conducted raids in the premises of Avon Lifesciences on April 14.

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News Network
March 28,2020

Chennai, Mar 28: Chennai City Corporation personnel stuck a home quarantine sticker at the office of actor-politician Kamal Haasan's Makkal Needhi Maiam office on Saturday, leading to speculation that the matinee star was quarantined for the coronavirus.

While there was speculation if Kamal Haasan was quarantined, the Greater Chennai Corporation said their staffers pasted the sticker on the premises because actress Gautami Tadimalli "returned from Dubai recently and her passport has this address (Eldams Road in upscale Alwarpet)."

The present residence of the actress was not known immediately.

The sticker read, "We are in home quarantine to safeguard ourselves and Chennai from the coronavirus." It was removed soon, an official said, declining to elaborate.

Kamal Haasan clarified in a statement that he was not quarantined.

"Based on the notice stuck outside my house, news has been spread saying that I have been quarantined. But most of you already know that I have not been living there for the past few years and the Makkal Needhi Maiam party office has been functioning from there," he said.

Further, the actor said, the news that he has been quarantined "is not true."

As a precautionary measure, he has been maintaining social distancing, he said.

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News Network
June 16,2020

Mumbai, Jun 16: The International Space University (ISU) in France has paid homage to Sushant Singh Rajput in a statement, saying the news of the actor's death was "deeply saddening".

Rajput was found dead in his Bandra apartment on Sunday.

According to an official, Mumbai Police found out during the probe that the 34-year-old actor was under medication for depression.

The official Twitter handle of ISU on Monday tweeted how Rajput was supposed to visit the campus last year but was unable to due to scheduling conflict.

"We are deeply saddened by the dramatic news on the death of well known Indian actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Mr Singh Rajput was a believer and strong supporter of STEM education and was following ISU on social media.

"He had even accepted an invitation to visit ISU's Central Campus in the summer of 2019 but other agenda priorities prevented him from travelling to Strasbourg," the statement by the university read.

ISU paid condolences to Rajput's family and friends, saying the actor's memory will "remain among his thousands of followers across India and all over the world".

Rajput had enrolled at Delhi Technical University (DTU) in 2003, which was then known as Delhi College of Engineering, but left the course to pursue his showbiz dreams.

Even after leaving the four-year degree course, he remained fascinated with science and had a deep interest in astronomy.

As part of his research for the film "Chanda Mama Door Ke", he also visited the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 2017.

Rajput had stayed in NASA to train for his role as an astronaut for the film, which was eventually shelved.

The actor also owned Meade 14" LX600 telescope.

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News Network
May 11,2020

Mumbai, May 11: Model-cum-actress Poonam Pandey was on Sunday booked by Mumbai Police for violating the coronvirus-induced lockdown norms, an official said.

An FIR was registered against Panedy and a person accompanying her by the Marine Drive Police.

She was found roaming in her high-end car at Marine Drive without any reason, he said.

"A case has been registered against Pandey and Sam Ahmad Bombay (46) under sections 269 (Negligent act likely to spread infection of a disease dangerous to life) and 188 (Disobedience of order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under provisions of the National Disaster Act," senior police inspector Mrityunjay Hiremath said.

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