A Dutch national was arrested while prominent south Indian film actress Charmi Kaur was grilled for five hours today by Excise Department sleuths for their alleged roles in a state-wide online drug racket in which nearly 20 persons have been held till now.
Those arrested by the Telangana's Prohibition and Excise Department sleuths for their alleged roles in the high-end drug racket included US citizen and former NASA aerospace engineer Dundu Anish besides seven B Tech degree-holders employed with various multi-national companies in Hyderabad.
The Dutch national arrested today was identified as Mike Kamminga, 33, Excise Enforcement Director Akun Sabharwal said.
"He was arrested as part of the ongoing investigation into the drug being supplied in Hyderabad. This is an important arrest," Sabharwal told reporters.
Mike was picked up from the city last night and formally arrested today. He was found in possession of psychotropic substances, the official said adding that the accused is being produced in a court.
"Mike has visited India four times and his visa is valid till June 2018," Sabharwal said.
With Mike's arrest, the total number of persons arrested in connection with the racket has gone up to 20.
Meanwhile, the SIT officials today questioned actress Charmi Kaur. The questioning, which started at around 10 am, ended by 5 pm.
"As directed by the high court, the questioning of Surdeep Kaur alias Charmi Kaur was conducted by four officials, including three women officials," they said.
The proceedings have been video-graphed. Since Kaur refused to give her consent for drawing of samples of body fluid, hair and nails and hence, they were not collected, the Excise officials said.
Actress Mumaith Khan will appear before the SIT tomorrow, the officials added.
Charmi is the seventh person from Telugu film industry to appear before the SIT, which has summoned 12 persons, including directors and actors, for questioning in the case.
Since her debut in Telugu film industry in 2002, Charmi has acted in Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam films too. During the investigation of the drug racket that was busted here on July 2, names of some members of the Telugu film industry cropped up, the SIT had said.
So far, the SIT has questioned art director Dharma Rao alias Chinna, filmmaker Puri Jagannadh, cinematographer Shyam K Naidu and actors P Subba Raju, Tarun Kumar and P Navdeep.
The racket involved the supply of high-end drugs, such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and methylenedioxy- methamphetamine (MDMA), and the investigators suspect that film personalities, employees of MNCs, college as well as school students were among its clients.
The racketeers placed orders through 'Darknet,' a restricted online network frequently used in illegal activities and the drugs were delivered by couriers, including from overseas, the officials had said.
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