Baahubali 2 actor P Subbaraju questioned in Hyderabad drug racket case

NEW DELHI: Actor P Subbaraju, who recently featured in the movie Baahubali: The Conclusion, on Friday appeared in front of the Excise and Prohibition Department's Special Investigation Team (SIT) regarding the drug racket case in Hyderabad. The sleuths probing a high-end drug smuggling racket had on July 12 issued notices to some Tollywood personalities seeking their explanation of their alleged links with the arrested narcotics peddlers. The Telangana Prohibition and Excise Department issued notices to some Tollywood actors, directors and producers under section 67 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act asking them to appear before it next week to explain their alleged links with the arrested accused. After busting the racket selling high-end narcotics like LSD and MDMA, the department has arrested 12 persons till July 12 since July 2. The latest ones to be arrested in the case were an aerospace engineer who earlier worked for NASA and a businessman. Five of those arrested are B Tech graduates who held good positions in various MNCs. The officials had stumbled upon the Tollywood angle earlier during the investigation when they found that the clientele of the gang comprised nearly 1,000 customers, including students of city-based schools and colleges, a film producer, senior officials of MNCs and employees of IT firms in Cyberabad. The racket hinged around peddling of narcotics like LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) and MDMA (methylenedioxy- methamphetamine). The department had earlier seized 800 'squares' of LSD, each costing Rs 3,000, and 35 grams of MDMA worth Rs 1.4 lakh. LSD, sold in tablets or in liquid form, is known to be one of the most potent 'mood-changing' chemicals, while MDMA, commonly known as 'molly' or 'ecstasy', is used primarily as a recreational or party drug. The two-member SIT was constituted on July 3. In view of the probe revealing disturbing facts on use of drugs by students, the department had sent advisories to 26 schools and 27 colleges asking their respective managements to sensitise teachers and students against the malady of drug abuse. (With PTI inputs)