Actress jailed in drugs case shifted to hospital

Kannada film actress, Ragini Dwivedi, who is lodged in the Bengaluru Central prison after her arrest in what came to be known as "Sandalwood Drug case", was shifted to a hospital after she complained of severe stomach pain.

Bengaluru: Kannada film actress, Ragini Dwivedi, who is lodged in the Bengaluru Central prison after her arrest in what came to be known as "Sandalwood Drug case", was shifted to a hospital after she complained of severe stomach pain.

She was arrested on September 4, after her house was raided by police in her alleged connection to a gang that organised high-profile parties in which drugs were allegedly consumed.

According to the jail authorities, Ragini was shifted to hospital on the advice of jail hospital doctors. "Ragini complained about severe stomach pain... as a result of this, she had to be shifted as the jail hospital has limited resources," an officer told reporters.

She was shifted to the Sanjay Gandhi hospital in an ambulance along with woman constables accompanying her.

Ragini is one of the 20 accused whom the police had arrested so far in connection with this case and she is lodged in jail since then. Her bail plea had been rejected by various courts multiple times and she has now moved the Supreme Court.

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Although arrested less than a week after Ragini, another actress, Sanjjanaa Galrani secured bail from the high court on health grounds.

The Bengaluru police began a crackdown on the use of drugs in August last week after the Narcotics Control Bureau arrested a peddler in Bengaluru and revealed that he was a supplier to rave parties organised by influential persons in the state capital.

Subsequently noted Kannada film director and BJP leader Inderjit Lankesh also alleged that about a dozen actors were into drugs and there was a nexus between them and the drug mafia. His allegations gained traction as the NCB had been investigating drug angle in Bollywood star, Sushant Singh Rajput's suicide case.

IANS