The Bangalore police summoned Priyanka Alva, the wife of Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi, to question her on the whereabouts of her brother on Friday.
Priyanka’s brother Aditya Alva is wanted by the Bangalore crime branch as he is suspected to be involved in the drug trafficking case being probed by them.
Though Oberoi’s home in Mumbai was searched on Thursday after a warrant was taken for the same but the crime branch sleuths did not find Aditya Alva there.
Aditya is among the 14 persons named in the FIR involving Kannada film actors, event managers and other influencers. His farmhouse in Bengaluru was also raided last month as part of the investigation, where his staff was questioned and some evidence seized. This is the case where actors Ragini Dwivedi and Sanjana Galrani have been behind bars for more than a month now.
Police sources say that they were investigating whether Aditya has been in touch with his sister in the past few weeks when the police have been looking out for him. They are also investigating whether Priyanka had harboured the brother despite him being an absconder.
Priyanka, who was served a notice to appear before the CCB by 12 noon on Friday, did not respond to the summons. She did not send any legal representative with an explanation on her behalf either.
The links with the Oberois took a political turn on Friday when Maharashtra Home minister Anil Deshmukh wondered why the Narcotics Control Bureau had not investigated this angle when it was doing an extensive investigation of the Bollywood drugs nexus.
“Bangalore police have come here to probe drug connection of Vivek Oberoi and filmmaker Sandip Ssingh. But NCB is not taking up the investigation. We will request NCB to investigate the drug connection and if they don’t Mumbai police will do it,” Deshmukh said.
Oberoi starred in the lead role in a biopic on Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year, a film produced by Ssingh. The Maharashtra Home Minister’s taunt was that the NCB was turning a blind eye to their role deliberately.
