Actor Vivek Oberoi’s brother-in-law among 12 named in Bengaluru drug case

TNM has joined the dots between politicians, actors and realtors and through source information, traced their connection with drug peddlers.
Aditya Alva
Aditya Alva
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After the arrest of actor Ragini Dwivedi in connection with the drug case, the police registered an FIR against 12 people. Among them is real estate developer Aditya Alva, son of late Janata Dal minister Jeevaraj Alva and brother-in-law of Bollywood actor, Vivek Oberoi. Sources in the Central Crime Branch say that the entire case came to light after they received a tip-off in August this year that the 204 kg of marijuana, which was to arrive in Bengaluru from Andhra Pradesh, belonged to an associate of a politician in Karnataka. “The person who tipped us also said that the politician wanted to expose the drug abuse in the film industry. We are still investigating the connection,” a senior CCB source said. 

The roots of the drug case

While the CCB was trying to solve the drug case, the Narcotics Control Bureau in late August, arrested Anikha D and seized MDMA pills from her residence. NCB had allegedly found Ragini Dwivedi’s name on her list of contacts in the mobile phone, which was retrieved from Anikha. 

The accused in the marijuana bust, meanwhile, allegedly revealed Ravi Shankar’s name. When the CCB was surveilling Ravi Shankar, the sleuths came across another case registered at the Ashok Nagar Police station two years ago. The case involved three parties -- Shivaprakash, Ragini Dwivedi and Ravi Shankar. Shivaprakash, a realtor and film producer, was accused of assaulting Ravi Shankar with a glass bottle at a restaurant. The fight allegedly began after Shivaprakash, who was a long-time friend of Ragini’s, accused Ravi Shankar of interfering in his friendship with the actor. However, this case was not investigated thoroughly, CCB sources said. 

“That’s when we found the connection. Ravi Shankar was working at the RTO office and was involved in giving out special license plate numbers to celebrities, businessmen and others. He was also connected with Ragini. When we found the connection, we arrested him. We retrieved information from chats he had had with Ragini, they used code words to communicate,” the CCB source added. 

The connection with the other accused

Sources with the CCB said that Shivaprakash and Ragini attended private parties organised at various farm houses in the outskirts of Bengaluru. These parties were private and only those with invitations were allowed to attend. CCB sources said that Ravi Shankar allegedly introduced Ragini to Viren Khanna, the affluent party planner, two years ago. 

“She was invited to his parties. Viren also knew Aditya Alva through his connections with the film industry. We suspect that Aditya Alva was attending these parties but we don’t know whether he was consuming drugs or supplying it. His phone is switched off,” the CCB source added. 

The CCB has divided the case into three sections -- the party planners or organisers, those who attended and consumed drugs and finally those who supplied the drugs. 

CCB sleuths said that Ravi Shankar and another accused named Rahul Shetty were allegedly supplying drugs to these parties attended by actors, musicians, children of prominent businessmen and techies.  

Ravi Shankar and Rahul Shetty allegedly procured drugs from a Senagalese national, which he allegedly supplied to these private parties. Sources say that one such party was organised on July 5, where the accused were involved. 

“Ragini has been lodged at the state-run women’s home in NIMHANS, where she is being questioned by a team of women police officers led by officer Anjumala. She has maintained that she only attended the parties and did not consume drugs. We found cigars at her residence, which have been sent for examination to the FSL. So far, we have compiled a list of actors, businessmen and others in the film industry, who will be issued summons for questioning,” the CCB source added. 

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