Sandalwood drug case: Ragini Dwivedi sent to jail, Sanjjanaa Galrani in police custody for 3 more days

BENGALURU: Actress Ragini Dwivedi and four others who were arrested in the drugs peddling case were on Monday remanded in judicial custody for 14 days, while her Sandalwood colleague Sanjjanaa Galrani will spend three more days in police custody.
Ragini, model Niyas Mohammed, Senegalese national Loom Pepper Samba, businessman Prashant Ranka and event manager Rahul Thonshe were moved to Central Prison, Parappana Agrahara on Monday.
Besides Sanjjanaa, event manager Viren Khanna, bullion trader Vaibhav Jain and suspended RTO official Ravi Shankar were also sent to police custody for three more days. Khanna and Shankar were arrested in connection with a 2018 drugs case. While Khanna is named a suspect in the case involving the actresses, Shankar’s statement has formed the basis of the FIR against the actresses, Jain and others.
Earlier in the morning, sleuths from Central Crime Branch (CCB) took Ragini, Sanjjanaa, Shankar, Khanna, Thonshe, Niyas, Samba, Ranka and Jain to KC General Hospital, Malleswaram for a routine medical test. All the accused had earlier tested negative for Covid-19.
The accused were later produced in a local court through video conferencing. Police sought extension of custody of Khanna, Shankar and Sanjjanaa and the court acceded to it. Ragini and four others were transported to Central Prison by a police van. Soon after reaching the jail around 7.25pm, the accused were subjected to a medical test at the prison hospital.
Sources say the accused were not lodged in the barracks reserved for judicial custody. Instead, they were quarantined in a new building, which was constructed for female prisoners, but is yet to be formally inaugurated. The women prisoners’ building is located near the main entrance, just opposite the prison hospital. The building has the capacity to lodge 500 inmates.
“The five suspects have been lodged in different rooms,” prison officials said. “Their quarantine will end only after their swab samples are again tested and found negative for Covid-19. We will then shift them to the regular barracks. Ragini will be shifted to the high security women barracks and will be given a cell adjacent to the cell of former AIADMK secretary VK Sasikala.”
Prison officials said they will not allow the suspects to have home food unless there is an order from the court. “They will have to accept jail food; there is no choice for them,” an official said.
CCB police moved Vaibhav Jain to Forensic Science Laboratory, Madiwala, in the afternoon. “We have to question him in an interrogation room, facilitated with auto video recording. His blood and hair follicle samples have been collected and they will to be submitted to FSL too,” police said.
Ragini Dwivedi’s advocate requested the judge to allow his client to be shifted to a private hospital as she was suffering from back pain and asthma. However, the judge refused saying she can be treated at the prison hospital.
Meanwhile, the anticipatory bail plea of film producer and stone quarry owner Shivaprakash, who is accused No. 1 in the case, was adjourned to September 16, after the court asked police to file objections.
CCB police, in their remand application, said Sanjjanna used three mobile phones to chat on WhatsApp and other social media platforms including Facebook and her messages contain vital information on drug peddling and consumption. However, while arguing to get her police custody extended, public prosecutor Veeresh Tigadi said, “SIM cards of these mobile phones are missing. Sanjjanna needs to answer more questions on her contacts.”
Objecting to the prosecution plea, advocate Srinivas, appearing for Sanjjanna, said the actress had the three mobile phones for her social media use and not drug peddling. He said police have not established that Sanjjanna had consumed drugs and she should not be handed over to police custody again.