Kannada actress gets bail in drugs racket case

The Supreme Court on Thursday granted bail to Kannada film actress Ragini Dwivedi who is in custody since September 4 last along with others in a drugs racket case.

A bench of Justice Rohintion Fali Nariman, Justice Navin Sinha and Justice K.M. Joseph set aside the November 3, 2020, order of the Karnataka high court, refusing bail to Dwivedi and others in the case registered under various provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

The court had heard the matter at length on Wednesday, the order was pronounced on Thursday.

The court noted that Ragini is entitled to get the bail since the maximum punishment for the crime alleged against her is only one year imprisonment.

She was in the Bengaluru prison for the past four months in the arrest affected after a raid on her house in the city on September 4.

Her lawyer noted that the officials did not recover any drugs from her house in the raid on September 4 and yet she was arrested on the charge of conspiracy.

She was arrested following a drug racket busted last August by the NCB in Karnataka.