Sushant Singh Rajput’s death has opened a Pandora’s box for Bollywood with all the dirty secrets, which were kept hushed until now, tricking out of the closet. The Narcotics Control Bureau has now extended its probe into the drug usage in Bollywood to a talent agency called KWAN Talent Management Agency. According to reports, NCB has summoned KWAN Agency CEO Dhruv Chitgopekar and Jaya Saha for questioning.
NCB has also summoned Karishma Prakash who works with KWAN, asking her to join its investigation, along with Rhea Chakraborty’s manager- Shruti Modi.
#SushantSinghRajput death case: Narcotics Control Bureau summons KWAN Agency CEO Dhruv Chitgopekar, Jaya Saha and two others to join the investigation
— ANI (@ANI) September 22, 2020
Interrogation of KWAN’s head talent manager Jaya Saha leads to Deepika Padukone’s links
Earlier, KWAN’s head talent manager Jaya Saha’s name, who also handled Sushant Singh Rajput, has featured in NCB’s investigation. On Monday, Jaya Saha appeared before the NCB for questioning in the case.
During the five-hour-long questioning of Sushant Singh Rajput’s talent manager Jaya Saha, NCB got information about those playing an active role in the Bollywood drug nexus. It was during Jaya Saha’s interrogation that popular names like Shraddha Kapoor and Deepika Padukone surfaced and WhatsApp chats had been retrieved in which they allegedly spoke about procuring drugs.
Widening the investigation, NCB on Monday summoned Deepika Padukone’s manager Karishma Prakash who also works at KWAN along with Jaya Saha. The agency also summoned KWAN Director Dhruv and called him for questioning today. He will arrive at the NCB office by afternoon.
KWAN Talent Management Agency and its interesting link with all those summoned by NCB
Interestingly, until now, all the big Bollywood names which have emerged in the NCB’s probe has links with KWAN Talent Management. A PR celebrity management company- KWAN Management works to clean the celebrities individual image in public. The talent management company was co-founded by film producer Madhu Mantena Varma. Varma was earlier married to fashion designer Masaba Gupta. Mantena was previously in a relationship with actress, Nandana Sen, the daughter of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, prior to marrying Masaba Gupta.
KWAN Agency co-founders connect with filmmaker Anurag Kashyap
Madhu Mentena Verma the first cousin of filmmaker Anurag Kashyap’s former mentor Ram Gopal Varma. Madhu Mentana Verma had also co-founded Phantom Films with Kashyap along with Vikas Bahl and Vikramaditya Motwane.
Phantom Films was dissolved after October 2018 #MeToo allegations on Vikas Bahl where he was accused of sexually harassing an actress. Recently, Anurag Kashyap, too, was accused of sexually assaulting an actress, Payal Ghosh.
Salman Khan has major stakes in KWAN
Moreover, Bollywood star Salman Khan also shares partnership and ownership with this Kwan management company. In 2018, Bollywood talent manager and co-founder of Kwan, Anirban Das Blah, had been asked to quit after #MeToo allegations on him too, had surfaced, where four women accused him of sexual harassment.
Almost immediately after Anirban Blah quit the company, Salman Khan’s own talent management company Uniworld Big Talent (UBT) picked up major stakes in Big Bang Media Venture, the holding company which owns Kwan. Salman Khan’s UBT became partners in Kwan. So, Salman Khan is the direct owner of Kwan Company as he has a major of stakes in this company.
Actor Salman Khan along with seven other celebrities including Karan Johar, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Aditya Chopra, and Ekta Kapoor have been asked to appear before the Muzaffarpur District Court on October 7 in the Sushant Singh Rajput death case.
Interestingly, as many as four cases are pending against Salman Khan in the Rajasthan court. In 2018, the actor was convicted in the case and was sentenced five-years of jail. However, after spending two nights in jail, he was released on a bail.
NCB delves deeper into the drug angle in Sushant’s death case
The NCB has till date arrested over one and half dozen people in connection with the Sushant death case. Sushant’s girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik, Sushant’s house manager Samuel Miranda and several others have been arrested by the NCB.
Meanwhile, a senior official of the probe agency said, the NCB is going to summon Bollywood actors Sara Ali Khan and fashion designer Simon Khambata this week in connection with an ongoing drugs probe. Sara Ali Khan’s name had come up in the questioning of Rhea Chakraborty, NCB had confirmed, whereas Shraddha Kapoor’s prospective summoning is a new development.
Rhea was arrested on 9th September and is currently lodged in Byculla jail. Rhea’s judicial custody ends today. The model-actress is expected to be produced in court, virtually.
