Hyderabad: Ravi Teja's driver's version to be matched with actor's version
Hyderabad: Excise officials on Saturday questioned Tollywood actor Ravi Teja's driver Srinivas Rao in connection with the drug racketeering case. Rao was allegedly in touch with one of the arrested peddlers, who reportedly delivered drugs to Rao on a regular basis.
Later, officials will also match the versions of Ravi Teja and Rao to verify whether the actor spoke the truth. Meanwhile, fresh searches are being conducted by excise officials in different parts of the city today.
Police said that he (Rao) was among the 12 personalities, including directors and actors from the Telugu film industry, summoned by the Special Investigation Team (SIT).
On Saturday morning, Rao reached the Abkari Bhavan at around 10 am and reportedly cooperated with the SIT officials. “The questioning started at 10.30 am in the morning. The interrogation report is being prepared by the officials now,” said an official from Excise Department.
SIT had grilled Teja for about ten hours in connection with the case. Teja had acted in several movies directed by Puri Jagannadh, who was the first person from the Telugu film industry to be questioned by the SIT.
Since July 19, the SIT has questioned cinematographer Shyam K Naidu, actors P Subba Raju, Tarun Kumar and P Navdeep, actresses Charmi Kaur and Mumaith Khan, and art director Dharma Rao alias Chinna.
As a part of the racket, high-end drugs like lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA) were being supplied. The investigators suspect that film personalities, employees of MNCs, school and college students were in the peddlers’ client-list.
In the hotseat
Rao was among 12 personalities summoned by SIT. Rao was allegedly in touch with one of the arrested peddlers, who reportedly delivered drugs to him on a regular basis.
The questioning started at 10.30 am in the morning. The interrogation report is being prepared by the officials now whereas Ravi Teja has been grilled for about 10 hours.
