Actor Sonia Aggarwal has hit out at media houses for reports stating that she was involved in the ongoing Sandalwood drug case.
On Monday, Bengaluru police raided the houses of several celebrities, including someone named Sonia Agarwal. Media reports wrongly identified this Kannada actor-turned-cosmetics industrialist as the actor known for Tamil films such as Kaadhal Kondein (2003) and 7G Rainbow Colony (2004), and shared the news with pictures of the latter.
Taking to Twitter, Aggarwal, who was last seen in Malayalam film Cochin Shadhi at Chennai 03, shared a phone interview with the online portal Filmibeat, in which she clarified that she was not the person whose house was raided. Calling out journalists who are “eager to defame a person without any investigation,” she asked them to do their homework properly before publishing such stories.
“First, figure out who it is. Has the NCB (Narcotics Control Bureau) taken my name? Find that out. Just because somebody is named Sonia, does not mean it has to be Sonia Aggarwal. Think before writing. I don’t care about gossip that is printed about me, but this is something serious. I have to take legal action if this happens in the future,” she said.
In a follow-up tweet, the actor also mentioned that she will be taking appropriate legal action against the media houses that dragged her into the case for “defamation and putting me and my family through this mental agony and shock caused by all the continuous calls and messages since morning.”
During her interaction with the online portal, Aggarwal also revealed that she is currently in Kerala and is set to start shooting for her upcoming Tamil-Malayalam film Grandma from Tuesday. She added that it is a horror-thriller film with a “heroine-oriented script.”
The ‘Sandalwood drugs scandal’ as the case is known is an ongoing investigation that started on August 21, 2020, when the Narcotics Control Bureau raided an upscale gated community, Nikoo Homes, in Bengaluru. Along with a number of drugs, a diary containing the names of 15 celebrities, including actors, musicians, models, and reality show personalities from the Kannada entertainment industry, was also seized.
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Actors Sanjjanaa Galrani and Ragini Dwivedi, who primarily work in Kannada cinema, are among those who have been arrested in this case. Both actors, who are currently out on bail, have been denying the accusations against them.
Last week, without taking names, Bengaluru police said that a forensic report had confirmed the drug use of some of those who were earlier arrested in connection with the case and a chargesheet has been filed.
In the most recent development, on Monday, police raided the houses of celebrities in Bengaluru and retrieved narcotics substances. As per the police, the celebrities were in touch with the Nigerian nationals held for drug peddling. The police team raided houses of Kannada actor-model Sonia Agarwal, DJ Vachan Chinnappa, and businessman Bharat.