Sandalwood case: B'luru Crime Branch arrests two drug peddlers (Ld)

Bengaluru, Sep 11 (IANS) The Central Crime Branch (CCB) of Bengaluru on Friday arrested two alleged drug peddlers in connection with the high profile case related to procuring and selling of banned drugs during high-end parties in the city allegedly involving Sandalwood celebrities.

The accused have been identified as Prateek Shetty and Aditya Aggarwal.

According to a statement released by the CCB, Aditya hails from Haryana but is based in Bengaluru. He is a close associate of Viren Khanna, who is a high-profile event organiser.

The police added that preliminary investigations revealed Aditya had deep connections with drug peddlers in the city.

"His association came to light when Khanna's premises were raided in Delhi," the statement said.

Earlier, Joint Police Commissioner (Crime), Bengaluru City Police, Sandeep Patil said that the CCB police have arrested drug peddler Prateek Shetty in connection to the case.

Speaking to IANS, a senior investigation officer disclosed that the CCB was probing the dark web angle too.

"Most of these psychotropic drugs or hallucination drugs like ecstasy tablets or LSD strips are generally procured through the dark web."

According to the police, Shetty (30) originally from Mangaluru, is a trained software engineer who took drugs during his early days in college.

"Once he came to Bengaluru and was employed in an IT firm, his addiction led him to become a peddler in the initial days. Due to his addiction, he lost his job and now he is a full time drug procurer and supplier of drugs to high end parties," said a police official privy to the investigation.

The police also pointed out that the CCB had arrested Shetty once, as he was one among three drug suppliers from whom the CCB had recovered a major drug consignment of 1.5 kg of cocaine and 1930 ecstasy tablets worth Rs 1.48 crore in 2018, in Banaswadi police station limits.

The police added that Shetty is a known drug peddler since 2010, while from 2015 he has become part of a full-fledged drug supply chain in the city, which thrives on high-end parties.

He has well-established connections among drug suppliers operating from Nigeria, Africa and Latin America.

--IANS

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