Mumbai: The central drug enforcement agency continued its crackdown on Bollywood with the arrest of a prominent film producer’s wife on Sunday for alleged possession of 10 grams of ganja or marijuana.

Producer Firoz Nadiadwala’s wife Shabana Saeed was taken to the NCB’s office for questioning after an early morning search of her Versova residence allegedly led to the discovery of 10 grams of the contraband, said officials. Firoz Nadiadwala, who has produced blockbusters like ‘Phir Hera Pheri’, ‘Awaara Paagal Deewana’ and ‘Welcome’, was not present at home during the action. He has been summoned to appear before the agency on Monday.

Saeed’s name was allegedly mentioned by a drug peddler named Wahid Kadir Shaikh alias Sultan who was nabbed on Friday. He was reportedly a supplier to several high-profile customers. “During interrogations, Sultan said he's been regularly supplying Shabana drugs for the past seven to eight months,” an official said. Shabana allegedly told officials that she procured the drugs for her personal consumption.

The team recovered 702gm of marijuana or ganja, 74.1gm of charas (hashish) and 3.1gm of mephedrone, along with nearly Rs 1.7 lakh cash from the peddler, Wahid Kadir Shaikh alias Sultan. “During interrogations Sultan revealed many names which included Nadiadwala’s wife Shabana. We then carried out a search of Nadiadwala’s house and found 10gm of ganja. She was served notice under Section 67 of the NDPS Act and after recording her statement, placed under arrest,” said an official. Shabana allegedly told officials that she procured the drugs for her personal consumption.

In all, NCB has made six arrests. In other operations, the bureau arrested four others from Andheri, Jogeshwari and Navi Mumbai. Officials said they recovered 6kg of a green leafy substance, purportedly ganja, from a man named SH Khan. They also arrested Ismail Shaikh and Shamshuddin Shaikh, from whom they recovered 25gm of charas and Rs 1.9 lakh cash, and a person identified as Hafiz Choudhary near the Mumbai international airport who was involved in previous cases of peddling.

The peddler who supplied marijuana to Saeed was also supplying it to other highprofile customers. He had numerous vehicles including two-wheelers at his disposal and employed many youths in the area who worked and delivered for him in Andheri .

The NCB has already questioned actors Deepika Padukone, Shraddha Kapoor, Sara Ali Khan and Rakul Preet Singh in connection with drug abuse in the Sushant Singh Rajput case. Former Dharma Productions manager Kshitij Prasad and South African national Agisialos Demetriades, who is the brother of an actor’s partner, have also been arrested with drugs.

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The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Mumbai on Sunday arrested film producer Firoz Nadiadwala’s wife, Shabana Saeed, after allegedly seizing 10 gram of marijuana (ganja) from their residence.

In its major operation since Saturday that was conducted across western Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, NCB had seized from peddlers narcotics – 717.1 gram of marijuana, 74.1 gram charas, and 95.1 gram of mephedrone (whose street name is ‘MD’) – and cash worth Rs 3.58 lakh, the agency said. In a follow-up action, an NCB team on Sunday carried out a search at Nadiadwala’s house in Juhu and seized 10 gram of marijuana.

The raid was conducted on the information related to a contraband allegedly procured from a peddler, Wahid Sheikh alias Sultan, nabbed by the NCB last week. The seizure was made by the anti-narcotic central agency at a time Nadiadwala was not present at his residence but his wife was there, said NCB sources. “Nadidwala has been called for questioning by the NCB but he is yet to appear before us,’’ an agency official said.

“In a follow-up operation in connection with NCB case number 32/2020, a team of NCB officials intercepted Shabana Saeed from her home at JVPD Scheme in Juhu on Sunday,” the official said. ‘‘Saeed’s home was searched in the presence of two independent witnesses,” the official said.

Saeed was issued a notice u/s 67 of NDPS (The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985), which refers to the power to call for information, and after recording her statement, she was placed under arrest Sunday, the NCB said. NCB’s zonal director Sameer Wankhede confirmed the developments in the case. Despite several attempts, Mirror could not contact Nadiadwala.

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The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Sunday raided film producer Firoz Nadiadwala's Juhu residence during which it recovered some drugs and arrested his wife, Shabana Saeed under the NDPS Act. Nadiadwala, who was not home at the time of the search, has been summoned by the NCB to join the probe.

NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede said that raids are going on at western suburbs and Navi Mumbai and so far, four drug peddlers have been held with commercial quantities of ganja and MD. After the arrest of peddlers, Nadiadwala's name cropped up in the investigation and raids were conducted.

"During the house search, 10 gm of ganja, procured from accused drug peddler Wahid Shaikh alias Sultan, was found at the house. Shabana Saeed's statement was recorded and she was arrested," said Wankhede.

During its searches, the NCB has so far recovered 717.1 gm of ganja, 74.1 gm charas and 95.1 gm MD worth Rs 3,58,610.

Saeed has been arrested under Sections 8C (produce, manufacture, possess, sell, purchase, transport, warehouse, use, consume, import, export any kind of psychotropic substances), 20B (produces, manufactures, possesses, sells, purchases, transports, imports inter-state, exports inter-state or uses cannabis) and 27 (punishment for the consumption of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance) of the NDPS Act. She will be produced in court on Monday.

In another development, actor Deepika Padukone's manager Karishma Prakash's bail hearing was adjourned to November 10 on Saturday.