Kochi Drug Mafia-Mollywood Nexus: Actors linked to criminals in cocaine bust |

Kochi: The arrest of a notorious criminal with cocaine and foreign liquor of Indian origin (IMFL) from Ernakulam has once again brought into focus the link between drug mafia and Mollywood.
The Maradu police house arrest report stated that actors Prayaga Martin and Sreenath Bhasi had visited the suspect in the hotel room. Police received information that the suspect was illegally importing cocaine from abroad to various districts, including Ernakulam, for distribution at DJ parties, the remand report said.
Meanwhile, it is learned that the police have taken Elamakkara native Binu Joseph into custody suspecting his role in taking the actors to the hotel room.
Om Prakash (44), from Thiruvananthapuram, and Shihas (55), a native of Kottarakkara, were arrested from a five-star hotel in Ernakulam on Sunday. During the raid, police seized a ziplock sleeve containing cocaine and four liters of IMFL in eight bottles from their possession. The hotel room booked in the name of Boby Chalapathi. Shihas is the first accused in the case registered by Maradu police.
“Though the accused visited Kochi city several times earlier, the police could not locate them. To escape the police radar, Om Prakash booked rooms under aliases. Nearly twenty people, including film actors Prayaga Martin and Sreenath Bhasi, visited the accused in the hotel room, it is necessary to have custody of the accused to know more about these people,” the report said.
A case has been registered under Sections 13 and 63 of the Kerala Abkari Act and 21(a) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985.
Om Prakash is an accused in around 30 cases, including the Paul George Muthoot murder case, and a wanted criminal in Thiruvananthapuram. According to the police report, the suspects are involved in drug trafficking. The FIR stated that the seized cocaine was the remainder of the quantity brought by the suspect for use at the DJ party in “Bolgat”.
However, the Ernakulam court on Monday granted bail to both Om Prakash and Shihas despite the police filing the remand report seeking their custody for further investigation. Police believe the reason for granting bail is that they were unable to recover a significant quantity of cocaine from the suspect’s possession. This could be the reason why the court granted bail to the duo in the case.
This is not the first time that Bhasi has been on the wrong side of the law. Earlier, the Film Employees Federation of Kerala (Fefka) had barred Bhasi and actor Shane Nigam from films and decided not to work with the duo due to their alleged non-cooperation with technical teams and producers on film sets. The ban was later lifted. Bhasi once again sparked controversy when he verbally abused a female anchor during an interview. The presenter filed a complaint against the actor and police collected his hair and nail samples to determine whether he had abused the woman under the influence of drugs. The actor was arrested and subsequently released on bail. Bhasi and the anchor later settled the matter between themselves after he publicly apologized for his actions.