Drug cartel pulled down my Govt, says HDK

Bengaluru: Just days after the Narcotics Control Bureau busted a high-profile drug racket operated by a lady and allegedly involving Sandalwood actors, former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Monday alleged that money from the drug mafia was used to pull down his government last year.

Giving few details, he said the ring leaders of the drug racket were allegedly hiding in Sri Lanka during the coalition government’s regime and that money from this drug mafia and cricket betting was used to bring down the Congress-JD(S) government.

“When I was Chief Minister, some (drug peddlers) had fled to Sri Lanka due to the fear of our government’s action against the drug mafia. The drug mafia is responsible for the destabilisation of the coalition government. The money from drug mafia, dance bars and cricket betting was used to topple the coalition government,” Kumaraswamy said while speaking to the media.

On August 21, the NCB had raided several places and recovered huge quantity of drugs used in rave parties. Several actors and musicians from Karnataka came under the scanner for their alleged involvement in the drug racket thereafter.

Joining the fray, Sandalwood filmmaker Indrajit Lankesh alleged that several actors in the industry were using drugs at rave parties.

Reacting to this statement, Home Minister and BJP leader Basavaraj Bommai said: “As Lankesh claimed in a statement to local news channels that a few film actors whom he knows were into drugs, we have asked him to give us details. We ordered the Central Crime Branch (CCB) police to probe the Kannada film industry’s links to drugs.”

Immediately, the CCB summoned and grilled Lankesh for five hours. The filmmaker said that he had passed on a list of 15 names to the sleuths, locations where rave parties had been held in the past and the names of drug peddlers.

Following the tip-off given by Lankesh, CCB chief Sandeep Patil said that the agency would widen the probe.