The Narcotics Control Bureau on Tuesday arrested the co-owner of a popular paan or betel leaf shop in Mumbai in a drugs case, PTI reported. Ramkumar Tiwari runs the “Muchhad Paanwala” shop in the city’s Kemps corner.
Tiwari’s name came up during the NCB’s investigation into a case involving the recovery of 200 kilograms of drugs from Mumbai’s Khar and Bandra areas last week. Three people have been arrested in the case. The drugs seized by the NCB included a variety of marijuana, called OG Kush, which is imported from the United States.
The agency also found drugs at a warehouse belonging to Tiwari, Hindustan Times reported. NCB’s Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede told the newspaper that Tiwari will be produced before a court on Tuesday. He added that the drugs had been sent for testing.
The NCB questioned the workers at the shop. Tiwari’s brother Jaishankar Tiwari had also been summoned by the agency on Monday.
The NCB also seized half-a-kilogram of marijuana from the paan shop, which is frequented by Bollywood celebrities, according to NDTV. The agency suspects the presence of drugs in the betel leaves that Tiwari sold to his customers.
Also read: Bollywood drugs case: Arjun Rampal’s sister appears before NCB for questioning
The NCB had launched an investigation into drug use among celebrities after actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death in June. In December, it had recovered drugs worth Rs 2.5 crore after raids at several locations in Mumbai, in the “biggest seizure” in the case related to Rajput’s death.
Since then, the agency has arrested several drug peddlers and questioned celebrities. Actor Arjun Rampal’s sister, Komal Rampal, was the latest to appear before the NCB on Monday. The actor and his partner, Gabriella Demetriades, have already been questioned in the case.
Rajput was found dead in his apartment in Mumbai on June 14, in what the Mumbai Police said was a case of suicide. His family had accused actor Rhea Chakraborty of siphoning off his money and drugging him Three central agencies – the NCB, the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate – were drawn into the investigation.
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