From Bigg Boss set to SIT & back: All in a day’s work for Mumaith

Actress-dancer Mumaith Khan faced questions for six and a half hours from the special investigation team of prohibition and excise department here on Thursday, the eighth day of questioning.

HYDERABAD: Actress-dancer Mumaith Khan faced questions for six and a half hours from the special investigation team of prohibition and excise department here on Thursday, the eighth day of questioning in connection with investigation into the drug racket.

Mumaith, a contestant in the Bigg Boss Telugu reality show being shot at Lonavla near Mumbai, arrived here on Wednesday night and returned to the shooting spot on Thursday night after appearing before the sleuths.

“The examination of Mumaith Khan began at 10 am and ended by 5 pm. She was questioned by assistant excise superintendent J Hari Kishan, inspectors BL Renuka, V Jaya Lakshmi and K Karuna at the SIT’s office. The entire proceedings were videographed,” said excise (enforcement) director Akun Sabharwal. “Though Mumaith voluntarily offered to give her body fluid, hair and nail scrapings for analysis, the officials did not take the samples, observing that she was not into the drug abuse,” said sources.

Mumaith Khan arrives at Abkari Bhavan in Hyderabad for interrogation on Thursday | Sayantan Ghosh
Mumaith Khan arrives at Abkari Bhavan in Hyderabad for interrogation on Thursday | Sayantan Ghosh

Mumaith’s questioning centred mainly on Tollywood’s links with the drug racket and also her connection with Calvin. She was also asked if she had witnessed instances of drug use by other actors.
After her satisfactory answering, the SIT sleuths concluded the questioning by 4.30 pm, after which Mumaith directly went to the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad and flew back to Pune to shoot for the TV show.

Mumaith is said to be one of the close associates of ace Tollywood director Puri Jagannadh. After the drug trafficking racket was busted by excise (enforcement) officials, the probe revealed that Mumaith, Puri and several other actors were in regular contact with the alleged kingpin of the racket Calvin Mascarenhas who is believed to disclosed to the police about his top customers in the film industry. Mumaith, along with 11 other film personalities including actors Ravi Teja, Navdeep, Tarun and actress Charmme Kaur, was served notices by the SIT in order to find out the factual connection between Calvin and the actors.

Two more questioned for supplying drugs
The SIT on Thursday questioned two more persons Saad Nazir and Mubeen of Hyderabad to get information on peddlers who are procuring narcotic and psychotropic drugs and supplying it to youngsters. However, the officials remained tight-lipped about the information provided by the duo, following which searches were carried out in different places in Hyderabad
recently

Ravi Teja to be interrogated today
Actor Ravi Teja alias Ravi Shankar Raju Bhupatiraju will be grilled by a team of SIT on Friday. The actor, who is also a close associate of director Puri Jagannadh, acted as a protagonist in five of his films. The SIT may grill him about the reasons of allegedly having conversations with the alleged kingpin, said sources

Notices issued to 13 IT firms, 26 colleges & 25 schools
Excise department served notices on 13 IT firms out of the 400 IT companies in Hyderabad, as some of the employees of these 13 companies were said to be consuming drugs. They also served notices on  26 colleges and 25 schools, Excise minister T Padma Rao Goud said. Earlier, Movie Artists Association representatives called on Padma Rao Goud. The MAA will organise an anti-drugs run in Hyderabad on August 30.
Goud also dismissed the argument that the film industry would shift to Vizag.

Opium cultivation: Task Force sleuths arrest one more from AP
The eight kilo of Opium which was seized from four persons near Indira Park was cultivated in hilly terrains of Narsipatnam in AP. To crack the case, Task Force personnel visited the village and caught a person involved in supplying the contraband in Hyderabad. Task Force officials said opium was cultivated by a person named Balaji. From there, it was brought to city by another person Srinivas.

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