Bengaluru's Central Crime Branch sleuths on Friday arrested alleged drug peddler Pratheek Shetty in connection with the drug case the agency is currently investigating. Pratheek has been named as accused number 15 in the FIR registered at the Cottonpet Police Station.
The CCB arrested Pratheek Shetty based on the confession procured from Ragini Dwivedi's friend Ravi Shankar. The CCB says it found chats between Ravi Shankar and Pratheek Shetty where the duo allegedly exchanged pictures of contraband. CCB sources have accused Ravi Shankar of procuring drugs from Pratheek for a few years now, which he then supplied to parties attended by Sandalwood celebrities.
Pratheek Shetty was also one of the three accused persons arrested by the Banaswadi Police in 2018 and 1,290 gm of cocaine and 1,930 gm of MDMA pills were seized. Three men including Faith Chucks, a South african national, Kante Hery from Guinea and Pratheek Shetty, a resident of New Thippasandra, were arrested then. At the time, Pratheek Shetty was allegedly selling drugs to Ravi Shankar but had not disclosed the information to the police.
Pratheek Shetty allegedly came to Bengaluru in 2010 when he got a job as a software engineer. He lived in Karachanahalli and allegedly began consuming synthetic drugs. Police say that he turned to peddling drugs in the subsequent years after he came into contact with student dealers, who were from African countries. "He developed contacts of peddlers in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, where he used to source drugs from. He has been doing this since 2010," a CCB officer said.
In the 2018 case, the Banaswadi Police received a tip off that three men had huge amounts of drugs in their backpacks and were standing outside Jyoti High School. A woman officer, who went to check upon the tip, cornered the three men and arrested them. At the time, 750 gm of cocaine was found in Faith Chucks' possession while Kante Henry had 450 gm of cocaine on him and Pratheek had 90 gm. For over a year, the trio were lodged in judicial custody. In 2019, Pratheek's lawyer filed a bail petition in the Karnataka High Court and argued that he was not in possession of a commercial quantity of cocaine. As per the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 100 gm or more of cocaine is considered a commercial quantity. Pratheek Shetty was let out on bail in 2019.
"Soon after he got out of jail, he did not deal drugs for a while and picked up peddling once again. He had contacts with people from African countries and in other states and so he started peddling again. He also sold drugs to Ravi Shankar. Ragini Dwivedi met Pratheek Shetty through Ravi Shankar," the CCB officer added.