Hair follicle drug test conducted on those arrested in Bengaluru drug case

Bengaluru: As part of its ongoing probe into celebrity drug racket here, the city police for the first time has subjected those arrested, including Kannada film actors, to hair follicle test to check whether they had consumed narcotic substances, a senior official said.

Besides gathering other evidence, the police this time resorted to the hair test to strengthen the case in which actors, rave party organisers, realtors and African drug peddlers have been arrested since August after the Narcotic Control Bureau (NCB) first unearthed a racket.

Later, the Central Crime Branch police launched its own crackdown into drug abuse and has arrested at least 15 people so far. “This is the first time that a hair sample test is being done to get additional evidence though we already have evidence in the form of technical data, eye witnesses, mobile phone analysis, seizures,” Bengaluru Joint Commissioner of Police Sandeep Patil said.

The investigation was on the right track, he said, adding the hair sample test was only to get additional evidence as the case would not stand only on hair evidence. The hair follicle drug test is conducted on a person who is suspected of drug abuse to confirm it, said a police officer.

The Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act requires elaborate investigation backed by adequate evidence, without which the accused would be acquitted, and hence the police were extra cautious this time and wanted to strengthen the case of prosecution, another officer said.

Those arrested by the CCB included actors Ragini Dwivedi, Sanjjanaa Galrani, their associates B K Ravishankar, realtor Rahul Thonse and a few Nigerians, who were drug peddlers.