Filmmaker Indrajit Lankesh claims at least 15 into drug trade in Kannada film industry
Bengaluru: Filmmaker and journalist Indrajit Lankesh on Tuesday claimed that at least 15 people in the Kannada film industry were involved in drug trafficking.
He made the claim a day after deposing before the police to share the information about the alleged drug racket operating in the film industry.
"I have given (names of) around 15 people whom I know are into drug business. I shared those names with the police," Lankesh told PTI.
Lankesh was questioned for nearly five hours by the Central Crime Branch on Monday for his statement that there were many people in the film industry who were into the drug business either as consumers or sellers.
The filmmaker made the statement in the wake of the Narcotics Control Bureau busting a drug trafficking racket here and said some "prominent musicians and actors" in Karnataka were under its scanner. The filmmaker said he wanted to expose the drug use in the industry.
"There are celebrities, when they start smoking and start doing cocaine, they are the brand ambassadors of youth today. These people think it is cool..," he added.
Lankesh said he suspected that some of the parties organised in the 'Sandalwood' were hosted by drug mafias within the industry.
Lankesh did not rule out the possibility of the Mumbai underworld behind the supply of drugs to a section of people in the Kannada film industry.
Meanwhile, the police said they were probing the matter.
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Surat LS candidate Nilesh Kumbhani whose nomination form was rejected suspended from Congress
Ahmedabad, Apr 25: The Gujarat Congress on Friday suspended from the party for six years its Surat Lok Sabha candidate Nilesh Kumbhani, whose nomination form was rejected over discrepancies leading to the BJP's Mukesh Dalal getting elected unopposed.
A statement from the Congress said the party's disciplinary committee decided to suspend Kumbhani after thorough discussion, adding it had come to the conclusion that the nomination form was rejected due to gross negligence on his part or "in connivance with the BJP".
"To be fair to you we have given time to you to explain your case but instead of coming before the party disciplinary committee you have gone incommunicado. After your form was rejected by the authorities, BJP went ahead and got form of other eight candidates withdrawn. This has deprived people of Surat their voting rights," the Congress disciplinary committee headed by Balu Patel said.
"People of Surat and party workers have become very angry due to your action and are expressing their anger in different ways. The Congress party has decided to suspend you for six years from the party," the press note said.
Kumbhani's nomination form was rejected on April 21 after his three proposers submitted affidavits to the district returning officer claiming the signatures on the document was not theirs.
The nomination form of Suresh Padsala, the Congress' substitute candidate from Surat, was also invalidated on the same grounds.
In his order, Returning Officer Sourabh Pardhi said the three nomination forms submitted by Kumbhani and Padsala were rejected after prima facie discrepancy was found in the signatures of the proposers and they did not appear to be genuine.
Kumbhani, a former corporator from Surat, had unsuccessfully fought the 2022 Assembly polls from Kamrej there.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's Mukesh Dalal was elected unopposed from Surat Lok Sabha constituency on April 22 after all other nominees, including one from BSP, withdrew from the fray one by one on the last day of withdrawing papers.
