Tollywood actor Navdeep appears before ED in drugs case

Hyderabad: Tollywood actor Pallapolu Navdeep on Tuesday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning in an alleged drug trafficking case.

The actor reached ED’s regional office in Hyderabad in the morning and was being questioned by the central agency officials about financial transactions.

The ED had issued a notice to Navdeep, summoning him for questioning.

He was also questioned by the ED in the past in a drug case allegedly involving some Tollywood personalities.

Telangana State Narcotics Bureau (TSNAB) had interrogated the actor on September 23 in connection with his alleged links with the drug peddlers arrested recently.

He was questioned about his links to Ram Chand, and a few others arrested recently for selling drugs.

Officials had reportedly confronted the actor with Call Details Record details and some conversations that took place on WhatsApp between Ram Chand and Navdeep.

He had told the media after the questioning that the CDR details of the last 7 to 8 years were collected, analysed and based on it he was asked to appear.

He said he answered all the questions posed by the investigators and they allowed him to go.

TSNAB, along with Gudimalkapur police, had last month arrested 11 persons including three Nigerians and seized drugs from them.

The police, which had stumbled upon some information pertaining to alleged conversations between Navdeep and one Ram Chand, had announced that Navdeep was evading arrest.

However, Navdeep had denied his involvement and approached the Telangana High Court for anticipatory bail.

The court had directed the police not to take coercive action against him. It, however, said police can question him by issuing him a notice.

The TSNAB subsequently issued him a notice under 41A of Criminal Procedure Code.

Navdeep was among the Tollywood personalities questioned by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Telangana’s Prohibition of Excise department in 2017 in connection with a high-end drugs racket.

In 2021, he along with other film personalities, was also questioned by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the same case.

The SIT had given clean chit to celebrities in the drugs case.