Hyderabad: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the drug racket is conducting investigations based on selfies taken by Calvin Mascarenhas with members of the film industry. In order to maintain transparency, the SIT is recording the interrogation of film personalities.
After a round of questioning last week, the SIT has collected evidence against 12 people from the film industry. It is collecting data from those who have received notices under the NDPS Act and have appeared or are yet to appear before the SIT.
An official from the SIT said that a few film personalities were known to undertake foreign trips for drugs. “We have collected evidence against them. A few of them have used foreign mobile numbers to have WhatsApp conversations with Calvin. We have collected evidence on the matter, and the dates and times of the conversations and the selfies taken with Calvin have been tallied. We are also data-mining the foreign visits of film personalities. We believe that Calvin supplied drugs to them during their trips abroad,” the official said.
Another source said that the SIT had collected evidence against 12 people from the film industry, and it was in the process of questioning them. “During our interrogation, film persons said that as they were from the film industry, they met many people and agreed to take photos with them. They avoided questions related to the pictures taken with Calvin,” the source said.
Calvin’s advocate to file writ petition
V. Ravi Kiran, 34, an engineering graduate operating a yoga studio, was arrested by Excise sleuths earlier following the arrest of Calvin Mascarenhas.
The bail petition was filed by senior advocate Mr E. Umamaheswara Rao. He has confirmed that the court has granted bail. V. Nikhil Shetty has already been granted bail by the court. The bail was granted to A2 and A3 as they were not in possession of commercial quantity. In the remand report of the three accused A1 Calvin Mascarenhas a musician, V. Nikhil Shetty alias Nishcay and V. Ravi Kiran, all residents of Bowenpally excise and prohibition sleuths, said,” Nikhil Shetty and V. Ravi Kiran were arrested and 46 mgs of Hashish, 40 mgs of ecstacy, two LSD square paper blots and two cell phones were seized,”
In the seizure panchanama it was mentioned that Calvin used to buy LSD at the rate of Rs 8,500 and MDMNA at the rate of Rs 6,500 from foreign countries and Ganja from Dhool pet from Hyderabad.” Calvin used to sell LSD to those whom he knew, like Azhaar, Nishchay and Abhishek,” it said in the panchanama.
Meanwhile, Calvin’s advocate Revanth Rao Gopalaswamy said jail officials are not giving access to this client, “I am going to file a writ petition in High Court as I was not given access to my client. Even Excise sleuths are also not serving any documents and they are not giving access to the documents filed in the court,”
Medical officials instead of plucking the hair strands in the roots have cut hair samples from film director Puri Jagannath.”
Dr Mohammed Rafi, senior resident medical officer at Osmania General Hospital stated that they have cut the hair samples of Puri Jagannath. His nails were also cut and these samples have been taken by the forensic laboratory for testing purpose.
An APFSL expert said , “Usual procedure is that they have to pluck the hair strands so that it is easy to find the trace of the drugs in the roots. It is difficult to find if it is a cut hair,” Puri Jagannath was questioned by excise sleuths.
