Mumbai: Actor Deepika Padukone, who was issued summon by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) to join the probe into a drugs case, will join the investigation Friday. An NCB source said that Deepika Padukone’s legal team has given this information to the probe agency. If sources are to be believed, Deepika Padukone who was shooting in Goa has already arrived back here in a chartered flight.
The development came a day after the agency issued a summon to Deepika to join the probe. She is the daughter of badminton icon Prakash Padukone and is married to actor Ranveer Singh. Deepika has been asked to join the probe after her alleged chats with her manager Karishma Prakash came to the fore during the investigation.
Deepika was in Goa where she was shooting for an upcoming film along with Siddhant Chaturvedi and Ananya Pandey.
Besides Deepika, the agency will also question her manager Karishma. Summons have also been issued to actors Sara Ali Khan, Shradhha Kapoor and Rakul Preet Singh for questioning. Sara and Shraddha have been asked to join the probe Saturday.
NCB sources said that they all have been summoned after their names surfaced in WhatsApp chats accessed by the NCB and during the questioning of late star Sushant Singh Rajput’s girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty.
The source said that these celebrities will be questioned about how and from whom they procured drugs and whether the drugs were meant for personal consumption or for someone else.
The source further said that while probing the link of the ‘Kwan Talent Management Agency’ in the case, Deepika’s chats with Karishma surfaced. Karishma handled Deepika’s account at Kwan till 2017.
Earlier Thursday, the NCB recorded the statement of fashion designer Simone Khambatta for over four hours. The grilling of Sushant’s former manager Shruti Modi is still going on.
Meanwhile police personnel have been deployed outside the residence Deepika. A team from the Dadar police station has been deployed outside ‘Beaumonde Towers’ in Prabhadevi, where the 34-year-old actor owns an apartment, as a precautionary measure, the official said.