NIA team, that probed Sri Lankan bombings, to question Bengaluru drug case accused

Kochi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) team, that carried out a probe in India in connection with the Sri Lankan bombings, will question the accused in the Bengaluru drug case.

The probe team has collected details on the frequent visits made to Sri Lanka by the accused, including those from the film industry.

Eight bomb blasts occurred in Colombo and adjacent areas, including at worship places, on April 21, 2019.

The probe team had found suspicious messages and chats from the digital gadgets of the accused, who have been arrested.

The questioning of the accused would be crucial to the NIA. The probe officers also suspect that the drug case accused have close links to the accused in the diplomatic baggage gold smuggling case in Thiruvananthapuram.

The probe officers had received intelligence information that Zahran Hashim, the suspected mastermind of the Sri Lankan bombings, had visited Bengaluru three years ago.

The NIA also questioned the youths, who followed Zahran Hashim on social media platforms, several times.

The intelligence agencies had reported about the large cache of drugs shipped to India from Sri Lanka. And that Keralite youths visit casinos in Sri Lanka and take part in rave parties.

Link to casinos in Sri Lanka?

The Bengaluru police are likely to seek help from the central agencies to probe the link between the Karnataka drug mafia and the casinos in Sri Lanka.

The probe officers have found evidence to prove that certain people in the Kannada film and political sectors were involved in casino operations in Sri Lanka.

The Central Crime Branch of the Bengaluru Police had questioned Kannada actress Aindrita Ray, and her husband and actor ‎Diganth‎, who had reportedly been to Lankan casinos, for four hours on Wednesday. The couple, who were in Kerala, reached Bengaluru on Wednesday morning.

Meanwhile, actress Sanjjanaa Galrani has been sent to judicial custody. Sanjjanaa’s bail plea was not considered on Wednesday. The bail plea of actress Ragini Dwivedi, who is also in judicial custody, has been postponed to September 19. They are at the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison.