Tollywood actor Tarun appears before ED in money laundering probe

Hyderabad | Actor Tarun appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) here on Wednesday as part of a money-laundering probe in connection with a high-end drugs racket that was busted in the city in 2017. He is one of the 10 Telugu film industry (Tollywood) personalities who were summoned by the ED. Since 31 August, this year noted filmmaker Puri Jagannadh , actresses Charmee Kaur, Rakul Preet Singh and Mumaith Khan , actors Nandu, Rana Daggubati , Ravi Teja , P Navdeep and Tanish have so far appeared before the central agency. On 2 July, 2017 the Telangana’s Prohibition and Excise department, had busted the drug racket by arresting a three-member gang. Subsequently, several cases related to drug trafficking were registered and over 20 people were arrested including a US citizen, who was a former aerospace engineer and had worked with the NASA, a Dutch national, a South African national besides seven B.Tech degree holders employed with multi-national companies here. The names of some Tollywood personalities surfaced during the interrogation of persons arrested in connection with the racket. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Prohibition and Excise department, as part of its investigation had also probed the alleged drug-links with Tollywood, and had then questioned 11 people connected to the Telugu film industry. The ED summoned the Tollywood personalities who were among those questioned by SIT and they were asked to appear before it. The racket supplied high-end drugs such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA), and it is suspected that people from the film industry, employees of MNCs and college students were among their customers. Orders were placed through the ‘‘Darknet’’ (secretive websites or online networks) and the drugs were delivered by courier including from overseas, the investigators had said.