NEW DELHI (AP) — Three Bollywood actors, including top star Deepika Padukone, were questioned by India’s narcotics agency on Saturday as part of an investigation into the movie industry’s alleged links with drug peddlers and cartels, officials said.
Padukone was the first to arrive at the Narcotics Control Board’s office in Mumbai. She had received a summons earlier in the week while shooting a movie in the western beach resort of Goa.
Video broadcast live on Indian TV news channels later showed Shraddha Kapoor and Sara Ali Khan also reaching the agency’s office for questioning.
Details of the questioning were not immediately available.
The narcotics agency said in a statement that it started the Bollywood drug probe after the death of young actor Sushant Singh Rajput, whose body was found at his Mumbai residence in June. An investigation is ongoing.
Padukone is one of more than a dozen people working with the Hindi movie industry who have been questioned by the agency in the past two weeks. Her manager Karishma Prakash was questioned on Friday.
A top Bollywood filmmaker, Karan Johan, said in a statement Friday that allegations of narcotics being consumed at a party hosted by him in July last year at his residence were “false and baseless.” His response came after an old video from a star-studded party at his residence surfaced on social media.
Regulators authorized AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for use in adults throughout the European Union on Friday, amid criticism the bloc is not moving fast enough to vaccinate its population.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former FBI lawyer was sentenced to probation for altering an email that the Justice Department relied on during its surveillance of an aide to President Donald Trump during the Russia investigation.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Tony Evers lashed out Friday at rival Republicans who tried to repeal his statewide mask mandate, saying killing the order would be a ridiculous move comparable to abolishing speed limits.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — As some conservatives in South Carolina celebrated getting a bill that would ban almost all abortions in the state past a legislative barrier and likely becoming law, they said they are not finished trying to end all abortions.
A Moscow court on Friday put the brother and several allies of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny under house arrest for two months as authorities sought to stymie more protests over the jailing of the top Kremlin foe.