The link between Tollywood and narcotic drugs was laid bare once again on Saturday when the police caught actor Abhishek Kumar and his friend and seized 10 grams of cocaine allegedly from their possession.
The police intercepted the Skoda Superb car of the actor on Dharam Karam road at S.R. Nagar during vehicle-checking a little after Friday midnight. When subjected to frisking, pouches of cocaine weighing 10 grams were found on their possession, West Zone DCP G. Sudheer Babu said at a press conference.
Buys drugs from Goa
The actor admitted to his interrogators that he and his friend G. Srinivasulu procured the drug from Goa through their acquaintances. The actor came in contact with drug peddlers during his stay in Goa where he ran a hotel and had been procuring narcotic substances for the past five years.
He would sell the same to his clients, including friends in Telugu film industry in Hyderabad, for rave parties. He was in the habit of consuming cocaine. Abhishek, who has acted in nine Telugu films, used to get the drug initially from Vikram Malhotra, who was eventually caught by Punjagutta police in 2008, the DCP said.
Actor Ravi Teja’s brothers -- Bharath and Raghu -- who were earlier arrested in similar cases, had secured drugs sometimes from Abhishek. The actor, who hails from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, discontinued his undergraduate course and shifted to Hyderabad in 1999 after his father’s demise.
Judicial custody
He had been acting in Telugu films for the past 10 years. The two were produced before a local court and remanded in judicial custody. They would be taken into police custody for further investigation, the DCP said.