Deepika Padukone's Manager Karishma Summoned By NCB, To Be Questioned In Bollywood Drug Nexus Case

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), that is probing drug case linked to Sushant Singh Rajput's death, on Tuesday (22 September) summoned actor Deepika Padukone's manager Karishma Prakash for questioning.

The agency has also summoned Dhruv Chitgopekar, CEO of KWAN Talent Management Agency where Karishma is currently employed.

Earlier today it was reported that Padukone was also going to be summoned by the agency after a WhatsApp chat, allegedly between her and Karishma, went viral in media.

As per reports, Deepika has allegedly been identified as asking for drugs like "Hash" on WhatsApp. The chats are said to be from October 2017 wherein Deepika is allegedly trying to procure drugs.

On Monday, the NCB also said it would be sending summons to actors Sara Ali Khan and Rakul Preet Singh after, and designer Simone Khambatta for them to record their statements as their names have popped up during agency's investigation.

Besides Prakash and Dhruv, the NCB has also summoned Sushant's former manager Shruti Modi and talent manager Jaya Saha for more questioning.

The duo was questioned for over five hours on Monday by the NCB officials here.

The NCB has already arrested at least 19 people including Sushant's girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik, Sushant's house manager Samuel Miranda, personal staff Dipesh Sawant while digging into the alleged drug network of Bollywood.

Later in the day, the NCB will move the Special Court to seek a day's custody for Showik and Sawant, to connect the dots with some new facts that have emerged in the case during the investigation.

The NCB has registered a case on the request of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after the alleged drug chats of Showik, Miranda and several others came to the fore.

Sushant was found hanging in his Bandra's Mont Blanc apartment on June 14.

Besides the CBI and the ED, NCB is the third agency to probe into the death case of Sushant.

(With inputs from IANS)