In a recent development in the ongoing Bollywood drug probe, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has issued a summons for Karan Johar, a top Bollywood filmmaker, and owner of movie giant Dharma Productions, to seek more details and the device on which a 2019 viral party video was filmed.
The video, which showcased many Bollywood A-listers such as Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor, Malaika Arora, Arjun Kapoor, Varun Dhawan, Shahid Kapoor, Zoya Akhtar, Vicky Kaushal, and others, has reportedly been sent for forensic analysis to confirm its authenticity as many celebs were accused of taking drugs at that party.
In the wake of the video making the rounds on social media, Delhi legislator Manjinder Singh Sirsa filed a complaint, alleging that the celebs were in a ''drugged'' state.
After being dragged into the drug controversy, Karan issued a public statement saying reports of drug consumption at his party were "slanderous and malicious" and all the allegations were "false".
Actress Deepika Padukone was earlier summoned by the NCB due to her WhatsApp chats on drugs with her manager Karishma Prakash.
Now that the NCB has summoned Karan in connection with the Bollywood drug probe, netizens have been taking a dig at the filmmaker saying that his turn has come and the host of the talk show "Koffee With Karan" will now be having coffee with the NCB.
Bollywood's drug "syndicate" came into the spotlight during a drug probe linked to the suicide of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput who was found hanging in his Mumbai flat on 14 June. His girlfriend, actress Rhea Chakraborty, was arrested by the NCB on 9 September for allegedly providing drugs to him. But she was granted bail a month later.
Since then, the NCB has been cracking down on Bollywood's "drug nexus" and has summoned many A-listers such as Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan, Arjun Rampal, Shraddha Kapoor, Rakul Preet Singh, and others.
On 8 November, film producer Firoz Nadiadwala's wife Shabana Saeed was arrested after the NCB seized 10 grams of marijuana from their residence. She was released on bail on 10 November.
Popular Indian comedian Bharti Singh and her husband Haarsh Limbachiyaa were also arrested on 22 November after 86.5 grams of cannabis were seized during a raid at their production office and house in Mumbai and their purported confession of consuming it.