Bollywood drugs case: NCB officials tell Deepika Padukone not to play 'emotional card', seize phone

Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone was interrogated yesterday for over 5 hours by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officials. Padukone, who cried three times during questioning, was asked by the officials not to play the "emotional card".

The officials told her to clearly tell the truth, said sources in the NCB office. Padukone accepted that she had sent those messages to her then-manager Karishma Prakash from a WhatsApp group but refused consumption or supply of any narcotics substance to anyone else. The actor used words like - maal, hash, weed - in her chat.  

NCB quizzed Deepika Padukone, her former manager Karishma Prakash, Rakul Preet Singh, and fashion designer Simone Khambatta in connection with the drugs case related to the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput and has seized their mobile phones. The agency collected their phones as the alleged "drug" chats were made using the same phones, the source said.  

On Saturday, NCB also questioned Shraddha Kapoor and Sara Ali Khan for several hours at its Ballard Estate office. Padukone was questioned at the Evelyn Guest House in Colaba, Mumbai, where the NCB's Special Investigation Team (SIT) has set up a base.

The names of Deepika Padukone and Shraddha Kapoor were found in WhatsApp chats on Jaya Saha's phone. Saha was Sushant Singh Rajput's talent manager and a top executive of talent firm Kwan. She has also been questioned by the NCB.

The NCB officials are working on finding more drug peddlers after questioning Bollywood actresses Deepika Padukone, and Sara Ali Khan, Shraddha Kapoor. The NCB's Deputy Director-General said no new summons has been issued on Saturday.

The NCB has registered a case on the request of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after it found alleged chats of Deepika with her former manager in 2017 discussing drugs. The phones of Rakul and Khambatta were seized as both of them are close friends of Sushant's girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty.

Rhea Chakraborty was arrested earlier this month after three days of questioning. The NCB has also arrested Rhea Chakraborty's brother Showik and 17 others in connection with the case.

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