Mumbai drugs case: Actor Ananya Panday questioned by NCB for second day

The agency has asked the actor to appear before it again on October 25.

Actor Ananya Panday on Friday appeared before the Narcotics Control Bureau for the second consecutive day in connection with the Mumbai cruise ship drugs case, PTI reported.

The case is related to a raid conducted on October 2 by the Narcotics Control Bureau. The agency had raided a party on a cruise ship off the coast of Mumbai and seized drugs on board.

For the questioning, Panday reached the agency’s office at Ballard Estate in south Mumbai around 2.20 pm on Friday. She was accompanied by her father Chunky Panday.

A large number of police personnel were deployed at the NCB office, and barricades were put in place as a crowd of mediapersons had gathered outside, according to the news agency.

Panday left the Narcotics Control Bureau’s office around 6.20 pm, after four hours of questioning, ANI reported. The agency has asked the actor to appear before it again on October 25.

On Thursday, officials from the Narcotics Control Bureau had questioned Pandey for two hours. Earlier in the day, the agency had raided her home at Khar in Mumbai, and seized her laptop and mobile phone.

The raid at Panday’s home was purportedly based on certain WhatsApp chats between her and Aryan Khan, according to The Indian Express.

On Thursday, officials from the Narcotics Control Bureau had also visited Shah Rukh Khan’s home, hours after he met Aryan Khan at the Arthur Road Prison.

The agency’s Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede, however, clarified that it did not raid the actor’s home, but went there to collect some documents related to Aryan Khan.

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The case

Aryan Khan and seven others had been arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau after the raid on October 2. But no drugs were found in possession of the actor’s son.

The agency claimed to have seized 13 grams of cocaine, 5 grams of mephedrone, 21 grams of charas, 22 pills of MDMA (ecstasy) and Rs 1.3 lakh from the ship.

Khan was initially remanded to the custody of the anti-drugs agency, but was sent to judicial custody for 14 days on October 7.

On Wednesday, a special court in Mumbai had denied him bail. Following this, Khan’s lawyers approached the High Court, which will hear the bail petition on October 26.