Madhapur drugs case: Telugu actor Navdeep questioned by ED over suspicion of money laundering

Also read: Hyderabad narcotics cops summon actor Navdeep

ED probing money laundering

The ED is probing money laundering suspicions while carrying out cash transactions to smuggle the contraband.

The bank accounts of Navdeep came under the scanner of the ED, and with the help of his bank documents, the probe agency was examining all ttransactions in detail.

A few days ago, he appeared before the Telangana State Anti-Narcotics Bureau (TSNAB) police in the Madhapur drugs case.

He appeared before them after getting a notice under Section 41A CrPC, as he was declared as Accused No 37 (A37) in the case.

According to police, Navdeep was suspected to be a consumer of drugs and that he used to procure it from one of the accused in a drug peddling racket busted by the police in Madhapur in September.

Also read: More skeletons tumbling out of Tollywood closet in drugs case

Arrests in the case

The TSNAB officials arrested several people in the case, including former MP D Vittal Rao’s son and film director A Sushanth Reddy.

This came nearly two weeks after cops raided a service apartment in the Madhapur area of Hyderabad in a drug bust and arrested three persons with alleged links to Tollywood.

The TSNAB cops seized eight grams of cocaine from two of the arrested persons. They also seized 50 grams of MDMA, 24 ecstasy pills, eight mobile phones, and vehicles, all worth ₹1.10 crore.

TSNAB Director and Hyderabad Commissioner of Police (CP) CV Anand said Devarakonda Suresh Rao, son of ex-MP Ram Chand, who had contacts in the film industry; K Sandeep, a software engineer who hosted parties for the industry; and Srikar Krishna Praneet, who organised poker at star hotels in the city, were arrested.

Three peddlers from Nigeria — Amobi Chukwudi Muonagolu, Igbawre Michael, and Thomas Anagha Kalu — were subsequently nabbed from Bengaluru.

The name of actor Navdeep cropped up in the case as the Hyderabad police reportedly gathered evidence suggesting that he acquired drugs from his friend Ramchand, who is already behind bars.

This was not the first time that Navdeep appeared before the investigators.

He was questioned by the sleuths of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Prohibition and Excise Department to probe drug cases with alleged links with film personalities in the Telugu film industry in 2017. The ED has also questioned him in the same case in 2021.

After making his debut with the sports flick Jai in 2004, Navdeep worked in movies such as Arinthum Ariyamalum (2005), Gowtam SSC (2005), Chandamama (2007), Dhruva (2016), Nene Raju Nene Mantri (2017), Ala Vaikunthapurramloo (2020), Seeru (2020), and Run (2020).