16 December,2020 07:21 AM IST | Mumbai | Faizan Khan
Arjun Rampal at the NCB office in Ballard Estate last month. File pic
Based on fresh evidence that surfaced during their ongoing investigation into the banned tablets that were recovered from actor Arjun Rampal last month, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has summoned the actor once again to appear at their Ballard Estate office today.
The NCB confirmed to mid-day that the actor was summoned in connection with the raids conducted at his residence on November 10. During his seven-hour-long questioning session on November 13, Rampal had submitted a prescription for the banned tablets recovered from his house. The NCB officers were verifying the validity of the prescription. "We were trying to find out whether it was a back-dated prescription and the validity of the reason for prescribing the tablets," said an NCB officer.
The officer refused to divulge more details about the validity of the prescription but said, "During the probe some fresh evidence has surfaced and we want clarity from him," the officer added.
Apart from Rampal, the agency also questioned his girlfriend Gabriella Demetriades for two consecutive days last month. Both were questioned after Gabriella's brother, Agisialos Demetriades was arrested after a small quantity of Hashish and Alprazolam tablets (banned narcotic drugs) were seized from him. During the probe the NCB found out that Agisialos was in touch with Omega Godwin, a Nigerian national arrested for the supply of cocaine in Mumbai. He was arrested after Godwin mentioned his name in front of the NCB officers.
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The special NDPS court on Tuesday granted bail to Agisialos in surety of R50,000. The court has also asked him to submit his passport with the NCB and to not leave the city without the agency's permission. He was first arrested in October after the agency raided a resort in Lonavala and seized small quantities of drugs, after which he secured bail. But the agency arrested him again in a separate drugs case.
The NDPS court also granted bail to former executive producer of Dharma Productions Kshitij Prasad, who was arrested in two drugs cases being probed by the NCB. One was in connection with the FIR related to actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death in which he was granted bail on November 26. But the NCB later arrested him in connection with another FIR linked to an African national.
"Kshitij has been granted bail in CR No. 24 as well. During the course of the hearing, the prosecution submitted that Section 27A was not valid against him nor was he connected to the WhatsApp communication mentioned in the complaint," said Advocate Satish Maneshinde.
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