Madras High Court grants bail to actors Srikanth and Krishna in drug case

The Madras High Court on Tuesday (July 8, 2025) granted bail to Tamil film actors T. Srikanth, 45, and Krishna alias K. Krishnakumar, 47, in a case registered against them by the Greater Chennai City Police under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act of 1985.

Justice M. Nirmal Kumar granted the bail after taking into consideration that the two actors had been arrested only on the charge of procuring cocaine for personal consumption, and no amount of contraband had been seized by the police from either of them.

The judge ordered the release of the actors on the condition that they execute a bond for ₹10,000 along with two sureties to the satisfaction of a special court for NDPS Act cases. They were also directed to appear before the investigating officer (IO) daily for a period of two weeks.

Thereafter, they must appear before the IO as and when required and not cause any threat either to the complainant or other witnesses in the case, the judge said. He also directed the petitioners to undertake that they would cooperate with the officials for a test identification parade, if necessary.

Further, warning that the bail would be cancelled if the petitioners fail to comply with any of the conditions, the judge said, a fresh First Information Report (FIR) would also be registered against them if they abscond by misusing the liberty granted to them by way of grant of bail.

What is the case all about?

According to the prosecution, Sub-Inspector Arulmani, attached to the Anti Narcotics Intelligence Unit (AINU), under the Triplicane Assistant Commissioner of Police, had received source-based information on June 17 that a person was in possession of cocaine near the Regional Meteorological Centre bus stop at Nungambakkam in Chennai.

Since the location fell within the Nungambakkam police station limits, the Sub-Inspector shared the information with the jurisdictional Inspector (Law and Order) and obtained permission to conduct a raid by the AINU team at the bus stop, where they caught hold of the first suspect, Prado alias G. Pradeep Kumar.

The AINU team reportedly informed the suspect of his right to be searched either before a judicial magistrate or top government officials. However, on his insistence that he could be searched by the Sub-Inspector himself, the team attempted to persuade a few passersby to be a witness to the search, but in vain.

Hence, the Sub-Inspector conducted the search, with two of the constables in his team as witnesses, and reportedly recovered one gram of cocaine. Immediately, the suspect was arrested. He also reportedly confessed to have obtained the contraband from Nigeria through a Ghana national named M. John.

On June 18, the AINU team arrested John at Hosur (Krishnagiri district) bus stand and reportedly recovered 10 grams of cocaine from him. Thereafter, the Sub-Inspector submitted a report before the Nungambakkam police leading to the registration of an FIR against both of them.

Further investigation in the case led to the arrest of the two actors on charges of allegedly procuring the contraband for personal consumption. The prosecution claimed that a urine test conducted with respect to Mr. Srikanth on June 23 had shown traces of the contraband.