Telugu actor Ravi Teja’s driver, Srinivas Rao, appeared before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Telangana Prohibition and Excise Department on Saturday, in connection with the recently-busted drug racket in the city. This comes a day after the SIT interrogated Ravi Teja for ten hours.
Teja and his driver were among the few who were grilled by the police for their alleged connection with the racket. The actor, who received a notice earlier this month, has been under the scanner for a while now owing to his deceased brother’s connection with drugs.
When investigated, it was found that Ravi Teja’s brother, Bharat, who died in a car accident a few weeks ago, had some information about the drug racket on his phone. He was also arrested for a drug incident in the past.
After the racket was exposed on July 2, ten film personalities received notices from the police. Some of them were Puri Jagannadh, P Navdeep, Tarun Kumar, A Tanish, P Subbaraju, actresses Charmee Kaur and Mumait Khan, cinematographer Shyam K Naidu, singer Ananda Krishna Nandu, and art director Chinna N Dharmarao.
The racket threw light on the way in which high-end drugs like lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA) were being supplied. The investigators suspect that film personalities, employees of MNCs, school and college students were among the clients, with the suppliers resorting to the Dark Net to sell them.