Actress Ananya Panday grilled by NCB for second day, summoned again
Darpan News Desk IANS, 22 Oct, 2021 10:57 AM
Mumbai, Oct 22 (IANS) For the second consecutive day, Bollywood actress Ananya Panday was on Friday grilled by a team of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), for over 3 hours, in connection with its ongoing probe into the October 2 "rave party" aboard a cruise ship.
An NCB official said she has been summoned again on Monday morning for a third round of questioning.
NCB official sources have hinted that there is apparently no evidence of any "drug-related exchanges" in her alleged WhatsApp chats with Aryan Khan - the son of Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan - who has been arrested in the drugs case and currently in judicial custody till October 30.
The sources divulged that there are "no traces or references" of any marijuana (Ganja) or weed-related three chats in the two star-kids' WhatsApp communication being scanned in-detail by the NCB.
Ananya, 23, daughter of veteran actor Chunky Panday, is now being questioned for her version by the NCB for certain different fresh leads it has collected in the case, but the officials declined to elaborate.
In a series of quick developments on Thursday, the NCB sleuths "visited" Ananya's residence in Khar and summoned her for questioning and she was quizzed for over two hours.
While the Khan-Panday families are close to each other, the upcoming actress Ananya is friends with Aryan and his sister Suhana too.
Besides Aryan Khan, the NCB has so far nabbed 19 other persons as the cruise ship progresses at a quick pace, and more arrests are not ruled out, the sources said.
Meanwhile, the bail plea of Aryan Khan - in detention and custody for the past 21 days, currently lodged in the Arthur Road Central Jail - is slated to come up before the Bombay High Court on October 26.
The pony-tailed senior Khan sporting dark shades and a black facemask over a grey half-sleeved T-shirt was virtually mobbed by the paparazzi and the hordes of policemen as he entered the menacing barred gates of the ARCJ in the congested south Mumbai.
Along with Aryan Khan - the son of superstar Shah Rukh Khan, the other seven accused - arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau on October 3 after the October 2 raid on a rave party aboard a cruise ship - were also sent to judicial custody till October 30 by the court.
Talking of 'Sooryavanshi', the film is now set for a massive theatrical release after its run-ins with delays and uncertainties. The film which also stars Akshay Kumar, Jackie Shroff and Jaaved Jaaferi with Ajav Devgn and Ranveer Singh in extended cameo appearances, will hit the screens on November 5 and will quell the audience's hunger for a true blue Bollywood potboiler, this Diwali.
Special NDPS Judge V.V. Patil also declined the bail applications of Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha, the two others accused in the drug case lodged by Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
The unverifiable reports, attributed to unidentified NCB sources, claimed that Aryan Khan was purportedly 'full of guilt and remorse' over his recent actions leading to his arrest and custody since the past 17 days.
It was last year, when Rhea made headlines after she was accused by Sushant's family for abetment to suicide and also siphoning off funds from the late actor. She was also named in a Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) chargesheet along with her brother Showik in a drug-related probe into Sushant's death case.
