Drug case: Chargesheet filed against 3 Malayalam film directors

Kochi: Kerala Excise Department has filed a charge sheet in the drug case in which 1.6 grams of hybrid cannabis were seized from the apartment of cinematographer and director Sameer Thahir, PTI reported, citing officials’ accounts on Friday.

Four persons, including Thahir and Malayalam film directors Khalid Rahman and Ashraf Hamza, are accused in the case, an Excise official said.

The fourth accused is their friend Shali Muhammed.

Excise officials said that the charge sheet was filed at an Additional District Sessions Court in Kochi on Thursday.

The department found that narcotics were used in the flat with the knowledge of Thahir, an official said.

The main intermediary who allegedly supplied the drugs has not yet been identified, officials said.

The accused told officials that a man named Naveen from Kozhikode had handed over the drugs, but the Excise said they have not traced him till now.

On April 27, the Excise team arrested Rahman, Hamza, and Shali Muhammed from Thahir's apartment near Goshree in Ernakulam.

Excise later also recorded Tahir's arrest.

Khalid Rahman is the director of several hit films like ‘Anuraga Karikkinvellam’, ‘Unda’, and ‘Thallumala’, while Ashraf Hamza is known for films such as ‘Thamaasha’ and ‘Bheemante Vazhi’. Sameer Thahir directed films include Kali, 5 Sundarikal and Chappa Kurish.

Before the arrest of the trio, police arrested Malayalam film actor Shine Tom Chacko in connection with another drug case. His arrest was recorded after about a four-hour-long interrogation in connection with an incident in which he allegedly fled from a hotel in Kochi during a narcotics raid, PTI reported.