Days after being summoned by the Narcotics Control Bureau(NCB), actor Deepika Padukone’s manager Karishma Prakash continues to remain untraceable.
With Karishma Prakash failing to appear before the NCB or replying to the summons, the agency has handed over the summons to her mothers and employees of KWAN Talent Agency.
Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has summoned the employees of KWAAN Talent Agency. Also, Karishma Prakash, manager of actor Deepika Padukone, who was recently summoned by NCB, has not responded to the summons till now. She is untraceable: NCB official. #Mumbai pic.twitter.com/Hk7xfeRO6g
— ANI (@ANI) November 2, 2020
On Saturday last week, Prakash had applied for anticipatory bail plea in the special NDPS court. The bail plea is reportedly to be heard on Tuesday.
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.
How did Karishma Prakash’s name crop up in the drug investigation?
According to the NCB sleuths, one of the arrest 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 death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
Karishma was reportedly in regular touch with the drug peddlers. After the raid, the NCB officials pasted a copy of the summons on the doors of Karishma’s house since she was not at home.
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.
During the interrogation, the NCB officials had confronted Deepika Padukone with the digital evidence gathered from Jaya Saha’s phone that showed the actor’s chats about procuring ‘maal’ for her.
Drugs probe related to actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death
With Karishma Prakash’s suspicious chats with Deepika Padukone, her not turning up for the investigation and remaining elusive can increase the trouble for the celebrity manager as NCB could be mulling over taking strict action against her for evading the probe.
The central agency has so far arrested 23 people allegedly involved in the drugs case related to the Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. One of the prime accused in the case, Rhea Chakraborty, was initially arrested in the case but was later released on bail.
Earlier, the NCB had summoned Bollywood actress Shraddha Kapoor and Sara Ali Khan to appear before them for questioning in connection with the drug case.
Addition to these, actor Rakul Preet Singh and celebrity fashion designer Simone Khambatta were also grilled by the NCB, that led to further disclosures in the drug racket in the film industry.
