Actor Deepika Padukone’s manager Karishma Prakash, who remained elusive after coming into the radar of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in the drug probe related to the Sushant Singh Rajput case, has been granted anticipatory bail by a special NDPS court on Tuesday. In response to the absconding KWAN Talent Agency’s employee’s anticipatory bail application, the court ordered that Karishma Prakash would not be arrested until November 7, but she would need to appear before the NCB.
Karishma Prakash termed ‘untraceable’ by NCB
Deepika Padukone’s manager Karishma Prakash was termed ‘untraceable’ after she failed to appear before the NCB or reply to the two summons issued to her. Post her failure to appear, the NCB had handed over the summons to her mothers and employees of KWAN Talent Agency.
Karishma was summoned on October 27 for questioning in the drug angle that came to fore in the investigation of actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. On the same day, the NCB officials had conducted a raid at Karishma’s residence and retrieved charas (cannabis) and three vials of CBD oil during the search. The officials even pasted the copy of the summons on the door of her house. However, neither she was found at her house nor did she respond to the summons.
Deepika Padukone’s manager resigns from KWAN Talent Management Company
Now, amid this ongoing drug probe, there are reports, that Karishma Prakash has resigned from her position at KWAN Talent Management Company. The source confirmed that she has resigned from her position on October 21, 2020. Speaking about the resignation, a source close to the talent agency said: “Her association with Deepika and few other actors was only as a KWAN employee. So naturally, those associations would also be severed.”
Why is Karishma Prakash under NCB lens?
According to the NCB sleuths, one of the arrested drug peddlers in the Bollywood drugs probe case had named Karishma Prakash in the interrogation. This came after NCB had recorded the statements of Karishma and Deepika in the drugs probe linked to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Karishma was reportedly in regular touch with the drug peddlers.
It is pertinent to note that Karishma Prakash was summoned by the central investigative agency earlier after a series of WhatsApp conversations had gone viral where Deepika Padukone was found allegedly asking for hash (or hashish, drug made from the cannabis plant) from a certain person named ‘K’, who many believe is her manager, Karishma Prakash.
Reportedly, the conversations, believed to have happened in 2017, were a part of a group called ‘DP+Ka+KWAN’ for which Deepika Padukone was the admin. The group was formed by Jaya Saha and its admins were Deepika Padukone and Karishma Prakash.