Actor Arjun Rampal questioned again by NCB in drug case

Bollywood actor Arjun Rampal was on Monday (December 21) questioned for nearly six hours by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in connection with a drug case lodged following the death of film star Sushant Singh Rajput, an official said. 

This is the second time in just over a month that Rampal has been questioned in the case. The model-turned-actor reached the NCB office in south Mumbai around 11.30 am and was seen coming out of the premises at about 5.30 pm. 

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Rampal was summoned last week but he had sought time till December 22 to appear before the central agency citing personal reasons, the official said. 

The NCB had questioned Rampal and his partner, Gabriella Demetriades, last month and arrested her brother Agisilaos in the case. Agisilaos Demetriades was arrested in mid-October from Lonavala, a hill station located around 120 km from Mumbai. 

The resort in which Agisilaos Demetriades was staying with his fiancee was raided and 0.8 gm of charas was recovered from him, the NCB had said.

Agisilaos Demetriades, who was booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, was later granted bail by a special NDPS court. 

In November, the anti-drugs agency had searched Rampal’s residence in suburban Bandra and seized 11 gadgets, including laptop, mobile phones, pen drives and tablets. As some documents and banned pills were also recovered, Rampal was summoned and questioned on November 13 for nearly seven hours at the NCB office in Ballard Estate. 

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Gabriella Demetriades has been questioned twice so far. After questioning last month, Rampal told media persons that he had given the agency a prescription in view of banned painkillers found from his home. 

After the death of Rajput on June 14, the NCB launched a probe into alleged use of drugs in the film industry and made multiple arrests. A number of Bollywood personalities have been questioned till now.