A day after her name surfaced in a drug case involving notorious gangster Omprakash, Malayalam actor Prayaga Martin denied the allegations, claiming that she doesn’t even know him. In the remand report submitted to the Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court during the bail hearings for the accused, the police had stated that actors Prayaga and Sreenath Bhasi were among those who visited Omprakash’s hotel room in Kochi.

Omprakash and his associate Shihas were arrested from the hotel following a tip-off about a major drug sale. According to Mathrubhumi, the police found a small amount of cocaine in Omprakash’s possession and reported that he had organised a drug party at the hotel, attended by young film stars, including Sreenath and Prayaga.

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Stating that the police have not contacted her regarding the case yet, Prayaga Martin told Manorama Online that she visited the hotel to meet her friends and left at 7 pm to attend a function in Kozhikode the following day. “I don’t know Omprakash personally. To be honest, I only heard his name when a media person approached me for an interview today,” she said.

“I had gone to the hotel in Maradu to visit some friends. Since I had to board the Vande Bharat in the night to attend a function in Kozhikode, I asked my friends if I could sleep in the room for sometime. There was another child there too and I slept along with her in the room for two hours. It is unfortunate that I was there at the time,” she added. Meanwhile, as news about her and Bhasi being mentioned in the police remand report was doing the rounds, Prayaga shared an Instagram story on Monday seemingly poking fun at her critics and the report, posting a picture of a canvas with the words “Ha ha he he hu hu” repeated multiple times.

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In related news, late on Monday night, Manorama Online reported that the Ernakulam police arrested a man named Binu Joseph from Elamakkara, who is suspected to be a key figure in the case. The publication quoted the police as telling it that Binu was the one who took Bhasi and Prayaga to Omprakash’s hotel room where suspected drug use took place during a DJ party. Omprakash has over 30 criminal cases against him, including the infamous Paul Muthoot murder.

After rising to fame through director Mysskin’s Tamil horror drama Pisaasu (2014), Prayaga Martin worked in hit films like Kattappanayile Rithwik Roshan (2016), Ramaleela (2017) and Brother’s Day (2019). She has also appeared in several television realty shows as judge and short films.