ED, Excise department lock horns over Tollywood drugs case

Hyderabad: It is a well-known fact that a few months ago in August 2021, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) probed the drugs case related to Telugu film industry and had summoned bigwigs of the industry for questioning. The celebs were summoned based on the cases filed by the Excise department back in 2017, and after it was alleged that the Excise department had not conducted its investigation properly, the case was handed over to ED for further probe.

After questioning the celebs, the sources from the ED informed that they did not find anything incriminating, and the celebs were reportedly given a clean chit. However, within a span of four months, in February, there have been reports circulating now that the ED is planning to reopen the case and sought the help of the Excise department.

But, here comes the twist, the Excise department seems to be in no mood to budge as the sources from department pointed out that the department had clearly informed the ED that they cannot submit any call data records of the persons questioned way back in 2017 because the evidence is in trial court, whereas, the ED claimed it to be entirely false. The ED is seeking the missing audio and video tapes of actors, directors and musicians who were grilled by the Excise department in 2017.

As the Excise department claimed that the evidence was in trial court, the ED also did not hesitate to reply and shot off a letter to the Excise department stating that the digital data of the drugs case related to Tollywood was neither submitted to the trial court nor it was with the ED.

According to sources in the Excise department, the ED is seeking the 12 FIRs that were registered in 2017 at various police stations in the city besides the statement of the accused and witnesses, their call detail records and copies of the seized mobile phones and hard disks.

Apart from that, as the data is of 2017, the ED has to rely on the Excise department for getting the evidence. Also, as per Sections 50 and 54 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the Excise department has an obligation to provide for the evidence sought by the ED.

The Excise department had questioned the main accused Calvin Mascarenhas along with the other celebs in 2017 and the case never progressed further. However, with the ED taking up the case in August 2021, things started moving fast, but were sidetracked. Now, the ED has come up again with the reopening of case and has asked for the call data records of Calvin Mascarehnas, actors Ravi Teja, Mumaith Khan, Charmee Kaur, Tanish, Navdeep, Venkata Subba Raju, director Puri Jagannadh and cinematographer Shyam K Naidu. However, the Excise department is parroting the same line that they have submitted the entire evidence to the trial court.