BENGALURU: A special court for
Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances
on Monday rejected the bail petitions of actresses
Sanjjanaa
Galrani,
Ragini Dwivedi and event manager Rahul Tonse, arrested in the alleged drug peddling case with links to
Sandalwood. It also rejected the
anticipatory bail pleas
of suspects Shivaprakash and Vinay Kumar, who are elusive since their names appeared in the FIR registered at Cottonpet police station.
Defence advocates said they will approach the high court. “We shall apply for copies of the orders. After examining them, we will approach the HC in a couple of days,” they said.
The bail pleas of others, including event manager Viren Khanna, businessman Prashant Ranka, techie Pratik Shetty, model Niyas Mohammed and bullion trader Vybhav Jain, were adjourned. Khanna’s bail arguments were posted to October 1 and those of others to September 30.
Judge GM Sheenappa, after hearing arguments and counter arguments during the past week, had on September 25 reserved orders on the pleas of Sanjjanaa, Ragini, Rahul, Shivaprakash and Vinay to Monday. Defence advocates had said the arrests and investigations were merely conducted on hearsay basis and police had failed in procuring proper material evidence to establish their roles.
However, the special public prosecutors counter argued, saying police have collected digital evidence to prove the allegations and establish the role played by the accused. “Since the accused are influential, they may hamper the probe if given bail,” the SPPs contended.
FIVE MOVED TO UNDERTRIALS’ BARRACKSOfficials at Central Prison shifted Ragini, Niyas, Ranka, Khanna and Senegalese national Loom Pepper Samba to the undertrial prisoners’ (UTP) barracks as the five completed 14 days of quarantine. All of them had been remanded in judicial custody on September 14 by the NDPS court.
Ragini has been moved to the old women’s building. She is being housed in the cell that lies in the same line of barracks where former AIADMK secretary VK Sasikala and her relative J Ilavarasi are lodged. However, Sanjjanaa, who was moved to the prison on September 16, will have to wait for two more days to complete the quarantine period and join others in the UTP barrack. The actresses were lodged in a new building meant for women prisoners all these days.
Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.