Central Crime Branch
(CCB) sleuths late Saturday night searched multiple high-end bars and pubs in the central business district (CBD) and Indiranagar as part of their investigation into the drug-peddling scandal with alleged links to Sandalwood actors and other celebrities.
The searches, which began late Saturday, went on till the early hours of Sunday.
Officials, while stating that no material evidence — drugs or people using banned substances — was confiscated or found at any of the five establishments, they have sought CCTV footage of specific dates that could prove critical in their investigation.
“During probe, we found that the accused consumed drugs at some of these pubs and hotels, which is why these places were searched,”
joint commissioner
of police
Sandeep Patil said, adding that they swooped down on the five establishments with search warrants from a local court.
Officials, according to whom interrogation of the arrested people brought out the names of some of these places, said they are likely to conduct more searches in the coming days. They did not, however, specify how many such establishments in the city are under their scanner.
“Five CCB teams simultaneously conducted searches at Skye Bar in
UB City
, Loft 38 in Indiranagar, 1Q1 on Queens Road, Sterling Mac near HAL and The Tao Terrace on MG Road,” KP Ravi Kumar, deputy commissioner of police (crime), said.
Police also narrowed down on the places based on information on the parties hosted by some of the accused, including event managers
Viren Khanna
and Vaibhav Jain, in the city.
“Some of them have told us that they dealt in drugs at some of these places and we are in the process of backing this up with evidence,” one officer said. Both Patil and Ravi Kumar did not elaborate on who among the arrested named the establishments that were searched.
Ravi Shankar, a second-division clerk with the RTO, had also mentioned a list of places, where some of the accused had indulged in consuming and peddling drugs. However, the places searched on Saturday did not include the ones Shankar, based on whose initial statement the CCB built the case, had listed.
More places under scanner“We need to verify a few other places. Discussing details now will affect investigation. We will be approaching the court to obtain warrants,” one officer said. CCB said in some cases the accused have given the dates when drugs were used at these places. “CCTV footage will help us establish this,” the officer said.