Rakul Preet Singh, Karishma Prakash arrive at NCB SIT office for drug probe linked to Sushant Singh Rajput case

Actress Rakul Preet Singh and talent manager Karishma Prakash arrived at the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) SIT office in Mumbai on Friday morning for questioning in the drug probe linked with Sushant Singh Rajput. While Singh had denied on Thursday morning she received the NCB summons, her lawyer acknowledged it later in the day and agreed to appear before the probe team on Friday. While actress Deepika Padukone is scheduled to appear for questioning on Friday, her manager Karishma Prakash was summoned to appear on Thursday. Padukone and Sara Ali Khan, who have been summoned by the NCB  in the same drug probe arrived in Mumbai from Goa on Thursday evening. Padukone, who was shooting for director Shakun Batra’s next film in Goa, was accompanied by actor-husband Ranveer Singh. The couple arrived at Mumbai airport around 9.15 PM. They reportedly boarded a chartered flight from Goa at around 8 PM. Khan, who too was in Goa, reached Mumbai with her mother, actor Amrita Singh, and brother, Ibrahim Ali Khan, around 5 PM, and headed to their suburban Juhu residence. Khan made her acting debut opposite Rajput in the 2018 film Kedarnath. Khan is set to appear before the NCB on 26 September (Saturday), along with Padukone and Shraddha Kapoor. The bureau has also asked Dharma Productions’ executive producer Kshitiz Ravi to appear before it in the case, an official said. Dharma Productions is owned by filmmaker Karan Johar. Ravi was asked to appear on Friday. His name surfaced during the probe, the official said. The NCB, which began the probe after a drug angle came to light in connection with Rajput’s alleged suicide, has now widened its investigation and called film celebrities for questioning. Meanwhile, statements of fashion designer Simone Khambatta and Shruti Modi, Rajput's former manager , were recorded by the NCB probe team in connection with the drugs case, the official said. Rajput (34) was found dead in his Bandra apartment on 14 June. His death has sparked a lot of controversy in the media and the case is currently being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Enforcement Directorate (ED), and the NCB. His girlfriend, actor Rhea Chakraborty, who has been accused of abetting Rajput’s suicide by his family, has been arrested in a drug case linked to his death. (With inputs from Press Trust of India)