Hyderabad: Actor Rana Daggubati was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials in Hyderabad on Wednesday in connection with a money-laundering probe linked to a four-year-old drug case. The actor arrived at the ED office with his personal staff.
He is the fourth Tollywood personality being questioned by the ED. Actor Rakul Preet was quizzed by the ED officials on Sept 3 in the case. A day prior to this, actor Charmme Kaur was quizzed for about eight hours. Director Puri Jagannadh was also questioned by the officials for nearly 10 hours on August 31. The ED officials are reportedly examining the bank account details of the celebrities and questioning them about the financial transactions, if any, with those arrested in the drugs case.
Read: Tollywood drugs case: Rakul Preet appears before ED
The drugs racket was busted in July 2017 when customs officials arrested Calvin Mascarenhas, a musician, and two others and seized drugs worth Rs 30 lakh from them. They had reportedly told the officials that they are supplying drugs to film celebrities, software engineers, among others. The customs officials had also found mobile numbers of some film personalities in their contact lists.
The excise department had constituted a special investigation team (SIT) for a comprehensive probe which registered a total of 12 cases and arrested 30 people. The team had examined 62 individuals including 11 people connected with Tollywood. The SIT had collected blood, hair, nail and other samples from those it questioned and sent them for analysis. The SIT filed chargesheet in eight out of 12 cases, however, it gave clean chit to the film personalities.
Read: Tollywood Drugs case: Actress Charmee appears before ED
