Hours after Bangladeshi actress Pori Moni was arrested over an alleged drug row, her friend – film producer-director Nazrul Islam Raz – was also detained after police raided his house in Dhaka on Wednesday night, reports say.
The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) stormed Nazrul’s home and seized drugs and equipment used for "engaging in perverted sex," Commander Khandaker Al Moin, director of RAB’s legal and media wing, told local media.
Nazrul, the head of Raz Multimedia, produced Moni’s first film "Bhalobasha Seemaheen."
On Wednesday, she was arrested as the RAB raided her residence and seized blotting papers used to distribute LSD, and 30 bottles of foreign liquor.
The drama unfolded as Pori went live on Facebook while the authorities conducted their searched. She claimed that unknown people were attacking her house and called for police protection, despite the fact officers from the RAB had cordoned off the building.
Pori and Nazrul's names had earlier cropped up in a drug row after the RAB arrested two models - Faria Mahbub Piasha and Mou Akter on Tuesday. They were held on charges of blackmailing and contraband drugs and liquor that were seized from their residences.
"They (the two models) are members of a group that carry out organised blackmailing. People from well-off families used to visit their houses to be entrapped eventually," a police spokesman had revealed to local media after their arrest.
A Flashback of the Case
A controversy sparked off after actress Pori filed a police complaint on 14 June against businessperson and former Uttara Club president Nasiruddin Mahmood, and five others, blaming them for attempting to rape and murder her at Dhaka Boat Club on 8 June.
In the complaint, she alleged that Nasiruddin and others “forced her to drink liquor” and started touching her inappropriately. And when she resisted, they beat her up as well.
She reportedly went live on Facebook, sharing the atrocities she faced with her fans, and sought Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's intervention to bring the "culprits" to justice.
Following this, law enforcers arrested Nasiruddin and other accused on 14 June. But they, in turn, accused Pori and her friends of creating ruckus in a drunken state on that night. After remaining in prison for 18 days, Nasiruddin and others were released on bail.
The case took another turn after All Community Club President K.M. Alamgir filed a police complaint against Pori and her friends on 16 June, accusing her of vandalising their club on that day.
While investigating both cases, the law enforcement officials were shocked to find out that several people are allegedly involved in the drug row and other illegal activities. They conducted raids and detaining Pori, Nazrul and many others this week.