The Enforcement Directorate (ED) will record the statements of Kannada actresses Ragini Dwivedi, Sanjjanaa Galrani and three others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. 

The special court for NDPS cases on Thursday gave the central agency five days to record the statements of Ragini, Sanjjanaa, party organiser Viren Khanna, real estate businessman Rahul Thonse and suspended RTO clerk B K Ravi Shankar, who are all currently lodged in the Parappana Agrahara prison as undertrials in the drugs case. 

In its application seeking permission to record the statement, the economic intelligence agency stated that it launched a probe after receiving information from the Central Crime Branch (CCB), which is investigating the five in the drugs case registered at the Cottonpet police station. 

The ED registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) over the matter on September 9. 

The ED stated that its preliminary investigation had detected a prima facie case of money laundering against the five suspects.

The inquiry revealed large amounts of proceeds of crime involved in money-laundering activities such as placement, layering and integration, the ED said.