Actor Ananya Panday’s Mumbai home was raided today by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and her laptop and mobile phone were seized, reportedly in connection with the drugs-on-cruise case in which Aryan Khan and others were arrested earlier this month.
Ananya Panday, summoned by the anti-drugs agency, went for her questioning to the NCB office with her father Chunky Panday, also an actor.
The 22-year-old debuted in films in 2019 and has since been counted in the big league, having starred in several high-profile movies.
Ananya Panday’s name reportedly featured in the WhatsApp chats of one of the accused in the case involving drugs seized during a rave party on a cruise on October 2. Aryan Khan, his friend Arbaaz Merchant and five others were arrested after raids on the ship by NCB officers in disguise.
Ananya Panday and Aryan Khan, the 23-year-old son of Shah Rukh Khan, are part of a group of star children who have been known to socialise together. Ananya and Aryan’s sister Suhana are best friends.
The NCB’s raid signals that the anti-drugs agency is going for the A-list in its investigations on an alleged “Bollywood-drugs link”. Over the past year, several high-profile actors have been questioned in connection with a drugs angle that emerged in the Sushant Singh Rajput death investigations.
Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan was arrested with a few others on October 3 after the NCB raided a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast and claimed to have seized drugs, including charas.
A team of the NCB’s Mumbai zonal unit visited Shah Rukh Khan’s residence ‘Mannat’ in suburban Bandra on Wednesday afternoon for seeking from him certain material related to the investigation into the case, the official said.
Another team of the NCB also visited actor Ananya Pandey’s residence in Bandra, sources said.
Pandey was asked to appear before the NCB on Thursday to record her statement, they said.
The NCB conducted searches at multiple locations in Mumbai since Wednesday night in connection with its probe into the cruise drugs party case, according to sources.
On Thursday morning, Shah Rukh Khan met his son Aryan Khan at the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai where the latter has been lodged following his arrest in the case of seizure of drugs onboard the cruise ship off the city coast.
A special court here on Wednesday denied bail to Aryan Khan, observing that ‘on the face of it, he was indulging in ”illicit drug activities regularly”.
His WhatsApp chats also showed, prima facie, that he was in touch with drug peddlers, the court noted.
Aryan Khan subsequently moved the Bombay High Court to challenge the lower court’s order.
The HC on Thursday said it would hear his bail plea on October 26.
