Telangana SIT quizzes Tollywood actor Tanish Alladi over drug racket issue

As part of the ongoing investigation into the online drug racket busted in Hyderabad earlier in July, Telugu film actor Tanish Alladi appeared before the special investigation team (SIT) of Telangana's excise department on Monday.

Tanish began his film career as a child artiste and has done about 19 films so far. He is among the 12 other personalities including actors and directors from the Telugu film industry who were listed to be summoned by the SIT in connection with the drug racket case.

On Saturday, the SIT sleuths questioned Srinivasa Rao, who was a driver to popular actor Ravi Teja. According to reports, Ravi Teja was grilled for 9 hours on July 28.

The SIT had said that during the investigation into the drug racket, a lot of names from the film industry cropped up and many have been questioned since July 19.

So far, the SIT has grilled filmmaker Puri Jagannadh, cinematographer Shyam K Naidu, actors P Subba Raju, Tarun Kumar, P. Navdeep and Ravi Teja; art director Dharma Rao alias Chinna; actresses Charme Kaur and Mumaith Khan, according to a The Hindu report.

As many as 20 people have been arrested so far including a US citizen and aerospace engineer Dundu Anish, a Dutch national Mike Kamminga and seven B Tech holders working in various multi-national companies.

Calving Mascarehas, who is the kingpin of the Hyderabad drug racket, had managed to form a client base of nearly 100 customers that included youngsters from various schools and colleges.

Hailing from Secunderabad, this man reportedly is the manager of some upscale hotels. It is suspected that he met many customers through these events. Expensive drugs like lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA) were reportedly supplied.

Excise minister T Padma Rao Goud said that the department had issued notices to 13 IT companies and had informed that suspected employees will be called for questioning.