Fardeen: In trouble again

Mumbai, July 4: Two days after Mumbai police intensified investigation in the drug peddling case unearthed earlier this year, actor Fardeen Khan is scheduled to arrive here late tonight and is likely to be summoned tomorrow for questioning.

Khan had been shooting in Europe for Vashu Bhagnani’s Shaadi No 1.

He was reportedly named by the former chief executive of Provogue Lounge, Vishal Meghnani, who has been in custody in connection with the drug dealing case, as one of his high-profile clients.

The actor, who is Provogue’s brand ambassador, had a brush with the law in 2001 when Narcotics Control Bureau sleuths had arrested him for possessing cocaine.

The police quizzed Provogue’s promoter and co-owner Salil Chaturvedi last week after Meghnani named him during interrogation.

On Saturday, assistant police inspector Sanjay Shinde was arrested on charges of destroying evidence and forgery. Shinde and his colleague Ashok Jadhav have been accused of replacing cocaine vials, which were seized from a Chennai-bound consignment booked by Provogue employee Allwyn Sequira on January 26, with boric powder. Jadhav is yet to be nabbed.

The two had apparently demanded Rs 8 lakh from Meghnani for the job but were paid Rs 2.5 lakh, police said.

The first test of the vials at the Kalina forensic laboratory in Mumbai showed that it contained boric powder. They were then sent to the Hyderabad forensic facility for a detailed examination, which confirmed the presence of cocaine.

Asked if Khan would be taken into custody or summoned for interrogation, Shashikant Shinde, deputy commissioner of Zone VII, said: “I can’t comment on the course of investigation at this juncture.” However, additional commissioner Parambir Singh had said last week that all those named by Meghnani in his confession would be questioned.

Meghnani had also named Ken Ghosh, music video director and a media magnate, and mentioned five prominent night spots, including the Provogue Lounge in the Phoenix Mills compound, as places where drug deals are struck.

Arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Prevention) Act, Meghnani has been remanded in judicial custody till July 18.