Mumbai: Actress Deepika Padukone, who was interrogated by the NCB on Saturday in a drug probe linked to Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case, gave clarification on her alleged drug chats with her manager, during the questioning.

Padukone, one of the prominent names in the Hindi film industry, was interrogated for nearly five hours by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in Mumbai.

The actress was summoned by the anti-drugs agency after her manager Karishma Prakash’s WhatsApp chats, including purported conversations about drugs with her surfaced.

Padukone, who was confronted with Prakash during questioning, had admitted to the 2017 ‘drug chats’ with her manager.

In the WhatsApp chats that date back to 2017,  Padukone had purportedly asked Prakash for “maal” and “hash”.

Giving clarification on the chats during her interrogation on Saturday, Padukone had denied ‘consuming drugs’ and said that ‘maal’ is a code word for cigarette, reported Times Now’s Siddhant, citing sources.

The mobile phone of Padukone has been seized by the anti-drugs agency in connection with its investigation.

NCB probing Bollywood drugs nexus

Besides Padukone, actresses Shraddha Kapoor and Sara Ali Khan were also questioned by the NCB separately on Saturday in connection with the alleged drug nexus.

The agency had earlier arrested actress Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik, Rajput’s manager Samuel Miranda and domestic help Dipesh Sawant and some suspected drug peddlers, in its drugs probe.

Rhea, who is currently lodged in Mumbai’s Byculla jail, is accused of procuring drugs for Rajput. She was arrested on September 9.

The NCB has said that the 28-year-old was an “active member” of a drug syndicate and procured drugs for Rajput.

Rajput was found dead at his apartment in suburban Bandra in Mumbai on June 14.