Hearing on pre-arrest bail plea of Deepika's manager adjourned

Mumbai: A court here on Saturday adjourned the hearing on a pre-arrest bail plea of Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone’s manager Karishma Prakash in a drug case till November 10.

The Narcotics Control Bureau, which is probing the case, had told the court at the last hearing that it will not take any coercive action (like arrest) against Prakash for now.

It (the NCB’s assurance) will continue but Prakash will have to cooperate with the investigation, special public prosecutor Atul Sarpande said.

The NCB, which began probing an alleged nexus between drug peddlers and Bollywood following actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death by suicide, had questioned Prakash in September and again summoned her for questioning last month.

Fearing arrest in the case, Prakash filed an anticipatory bail application before the special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act court.

At the last hearing, her lawyer had said Prakash will cooperate with the investigation and appear before the NCB.

She visited the NCB office multiple times this week to record her statement.

The NCB had summoned Prakash on October 28 after it allegedly seized 1.7 gm of hashish during a search at her residence here.

The central agency had claimed that her name cropped up during the interrogation of an arrested drug peddler.