Bollywood stars being questioned in the drugs case had their phones locked with three layers of security. Too bad, they are unlocked now

After a news sabbatical of sorts, the Narcotics Control Bureau’s investigation into the drug cartel of Mumbai is back to hitting headlines. Following the tragic death of Sushant Singh Rajput in June last year, the Enforcement Directorate had stumbled upon a potential drug circulation and consumption goldmine in Bollywood, after which the Narcotics Control Bureau took over specific investigations to uncover the all-pervasive drug culture in Mumbai’s film industry. No less than Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan, and other stars were called in by the NCB for questioning. The cell phones were seized, and now, information out of the seized gadgets has begun trickling out. 

Till December last year, the NCB had sent over 85 gadgets seized from Bollywood stars, drug cartels and directors to the Directorate of Forensic Sciences, Gujarat. According to a report by TV9 Hindi, top stars of Bollywood might find themselves in huge trouble, as the evidence uncovered against them is in no way good news. 

The Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) of Gujarat has reportedly submitted its final report of at least 35 gadgets of Bollywood stars to the NCB. The report includes no less than 5 TB of incriminatory data spread across the past two years.

Among those whose gadgets data has been submitted by the NCB to the FSL were Bollywood stars like Deepika Padukone, Arjun Rampal, Sara Ali Khan, Shraddha Kapoor, Rhea Chakraborty, Rakul Preet Singh, Karishma Prakash, etc. With 35 gadgets being ‘unlocked’ and their data having been successfully extracted, such stars could soon find themselves under a truckload of troubles. Apparently, according to the report, the celebrities had protected their gadgets and incriminatory data therewith using a three-layered protection system. 

This three-layered data protection system made use of screen locks, number codes and specific app lockers. Using these, the Bollywood celebrities protected their screenshots, photos, call logs, WhatsApp messages, SMS, video call and data log, etc. FSL authorities also informed TV9 Network that the celebrities, to protect their android phones, had purchased high-end safety software. 

Read more: Investigation into Sushant’s case opens a can of worms of Bollywood and Drugs Mafia nexus

Earlier, the Directorate of Forensic Sciences had revealed that the phones of the Bollywood celebrities sent for data extraction by the NCB were high-end in nature, and had tremendous storage capacities, which made extraction difficult using existing tools. Therefore, the DHS made use of new forensic tools procured from Israel to extract the data.

With the NCB now beginning to gain access to highly-protected data, the star-celebrities of Bollywood have much to fear. While many might have thought that the investigation into the death of Sushant Singh Rajput has faded away, the recent developments come as a huge testament that Bollywood and its filthy junkies will not be left off the hook this time around.