Bollywood actor Gaurav Dixit has been absconding since Friday night (April 02, 201) when India's narcotics control authority raided his flat in the city of Mumbai and seized huge quantities of banned drugs, officials said Saturday.
Gaurav made his debut in Bollywood with the film Fun Can Be Dangerous Sometimes in 2005. His other popular films include Bobby: Love and Lust (2005) and The Magic of Cinema in 2011. He also acted in a number of TV serials.
Sleuths of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) carried out the raid at the actor's flat around 9 pm on Friday after his name emerged in the Bollywood drugs scandal during the recent interrogation of another actor, Ajaz Khan.
Also read: Bollywood: Sushant's ex Rhea among 33 charged in drugs case
"Gaurav was not at home then. But he fled when he saw the anti-narcotics sleuths upon his return to the highrise apartment complex. We have seized huge quantities of ecstasy and hashish from his flat," an NCB official told UNB.
NCB started probing the drugs scandal following the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput in June last year. Among the first to be arrested in the case were his rumoured girlfriend Rhea, also an actor, and her brother Showik. Both are currently out on bail.
Rhea was, in fact, arrested by NCB on September 9, following days of questioning, and accused of procuring cannabis for her late actor-boyfriend, whose body was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his Mumbai flat on June 14.
Also read: Bollywood drugs scandal: Actor Arjun Rampal grilled for over 6 hours
Immediately after the arrest of Rhea, the names of at least 20 top Bollywood celebrities — from actors to filmmakers to designers — surfaced in the drugs case.
Several of them, including leading female Bollywood actors — Rakul Preet Singh, Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan and Shraddha Kapoor — were subsequently grilled by NCB. All the actors, however, reportedly denied any links with such drug dealers.
The grilling took place in the wake of WhatsApp chats retrieved from Rhea's mobile phone indicating that they procured banned substances like cannabis, weed and hash from dealers with links to foreign countries.
Read Bollywood: Chargesheet against Sushant's ex Rhea a 'damp squib'