Enforcement Directorate seeks all records in Tollywood drugs scandal

In an apparent re-focus into the Tollywood drugs case, The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday wrote a letter to Telangana Excise Department, asking them to submit comprehensive details collected in the case.

Hyderabad: In an apparent re-focus into the Tollywood drugs case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday wrote a letter to Telangana Excise Department, asking them to submit comprehensive details collected in the case.

The case relates to a 2017 event, when the Excise Department summoned several celebrities, including musician Calvin Mascarenhas as well as two other persons, for possessing drugs.

Interestingly, in the ED investigation that has since followed, the agency has not mentioned the roles of any of the 12 celebrities under their radar for smuggling Class A narcotic substances in any of its indictments.

Earlier, Telangana Congress president Revanth Reddy had filed a petition in the court on the same issue, seeking a transfer of the case from the excise department to any central investigating agency such as NCB, ED, and DRI. Reddy had reasoned that the Excise department did not have sufficient resources to conduct a comprehensive investigation in the case.

During Reddy's petition in the Hyderabad High Court in this regard, ED brought to the attention of the court that the Excise Department had not handed over key digital records to them in these cases.

ED told to court that these digital records are very crucial to inquire about the WhatsApp conversations of Mascarenhas, the main accused in the Tollywood drug case.

In the order thereafter, the court directed the Excise Department to hand over requested details in their entirety. In this context, ED wrote a letter to the Excise department to hand over digital records regarding the Tollywood drug case.

Meanwhile, Hyderabad ED officials have filed a petition in Nampally court, saying that they are ready to investigate the issue. Also, some time ago, several film celebrities were called to the ED office for inquiry, wherein details pertaining to the case were collected.