Bollywood drug probe: NCB may summon Deepika Padukone if needed

MUMBAI: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), probing the alleged Bollywood-drug nexus, might summon actress Deepika Padukone if needed, an official said on Tuesday.

NCB sources said some WhatsApp conversations purportedly discussing drugs are on the radar of the agency.

Some of these chats were purportedly between Padukone's manager Karishma Prakash and one "D", they said.

The official said the NCB might also summon actors Rakul Preet Singh and Sara Ali Khan, and designer Simone Khambatta this week.

The federal anti-drugs agency has already summoned Karishma Prakash and KWAN talent management agency's CEO Dhurv Chitgopekar in connection with its probe.

Both of them will be questioned by the NCB this afternoon, he said.

"The NCB will first question Karishma Prakash and might summon actor Deepika Padukone if needed," the official said.

During the NCB's investigation into the drugs angle in actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death case, a wider drugs nexus in Bollywood surfaced.

Rajput's talent manager Jaya Saha was questioned by the NCB on Monday.

The NCB has so far arrested more than 12 people, including Rajput's girlfriend and actress Rhea Chakraborty and her brother Showik Chakraborty, in connection with the probe into the drugs angle in the case of the actor's death.

Rajput (34) was found hanging at his home in Bandra area here on June 14.