The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Telangana’s Excise Department probing the Hyderabad drug racket on Wednesday questioned actress Charmme Kaur.
The questioning began at 10 a.m. and continued till afternoon at Abkari Bhavan, the office of Prohibition and Excise Department.
A four-member team of women officers led by Assistant Excise Inspector Anita questioned the actress on her alleged links with Calvin Mascrenhas, the kingpin of the racket. She was also asked whether she takes drugs.
Earlier, accompanied by her lawyer and bouncers, Charmme reached the office and greeted a big contingent of photographers and videographers.
She went from the sets of “Paisa Vasool”, a movie being directed by Puri Jagannadh who was questioned in the case last week.
On a petition by the actress, the Hyderabad High Court had directed that she should be questioned by women officers between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.
The court also asked the SIT not to collect Charmme’s blood, hair and nail samples without her consent. It, however, rejected her plea to allow the presence of her lawyer during the questioning.
The officials hope to gather significant clues from Charmme, who was allegedly in touch with Calvin after the latter was introduced to her by Puri.
She is the seventh celebrity from Telugu film industry to appear before the SIT.
Charmme is one of the 12 personalities from Tollywood summoned by the SIT for questioning in the drug racket which was busted here this month.
The SIT has questioned six celebrities including actors Tarun and Navdeep and director Puri Jagannadh.
They were summoned after the SIT found their contact details in the call data of Calvin Mascrenhas.
Actress Mumaith Khan and actor Ravi Teja are among the others to be questioned this week.
The SIT has arrested 19 accused in the racket, which created a sensation following startling revelation that the peddlers sold drugs to students of several colleges and schools in Hyderabad, Tollywood celebrities and techies.
The case took a new turn on Monday when the SIT arrested the manager of leading actress Kajal Aggarwal.
Puttkar Ronson Joseph alias Ronnie was arrested from his house here.
Narcotic substances were recovered from his possession. The actress expressed shock over the involvement of her manager in the illegal activity.
The authorities have recovered 3,000 units of LSD, 105 grams of MDMA, 45 grams of cocaine and other narcotic and psychotropic substance from all the accused arrested so far.
