Actor Deepika Padukone with husband Ranveer Singh and manager Karishma Prakash, at Mumbai airport Thursday. (Express Photo)Actor Deepika Padukone, who late Thursday reached Mumbai from Goa, will appear before the NCB on Saturday in connection with the summons issued to her in regard to a narcotics case lodged following actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. Besides Padukone, actors Sara Ali Khan and Shraddha Kapoor are also set to appear before the agency on Saturday.
On Thursday, Sushant’s former manager Shruti Modi appeared before the NCB, along with designer Simone Khambatta.
Modi is an accused in the first FIR registered by NCB, based on purported WhatsApp chats found on the cellphone of Sushant’s girlfriend and actor Rhea Chakraborty. No arrests have been made in the case, in which Rhea and her brother Showik have also been named. An officer said that Modi was questioned in connection with the WhatsApp chats, allegedly discussing narcotics.
NCB Deputy Director (Operations) K P S Malhotra said, “Today, Simone Khambatta and Shruti Modi joined the investigation and their statements have been recorded.”
“Deepika has acknowledged the summons and had submitted for joining investigation on Saturday. Tomorrow, actor Rakul Preet Singh and Deepika’s manager Karishma Prakash will also be joining the investigation,” he added.
As per NCB, Rhea, during her interrogation between September 6 and 9, had mentioned the names of Simone Khambatta, Sara Ali Khan and Rakul Preet Singh in connection to the case.
The NCB has registered two FIRs in connection with its drug probe. The first FIR was registered on August 26 based on Rhea’s purported chats extracted from her cellphone by the Enforcement Directorate. Six persons, including Rhea, have been booked in the case.
The second FIR was registered suo motu by the NCB to “uproot the drug citadel in Bollywood”. All the arrests, 19 so far, have been made in the second case.
Malhotra said Sara and Shraddha will be questioned in connection to both the FIRs. “There are a few aspects of the cases that warrant examination of Sara and Shraddha. So, they will be examined in both cases that have common linkages,” he added.
An executive producer with Dharma Productions, Kshitij Prasad, has also been issued summons by NCB for Friday in connection with the investigation.
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