Bengaluru: A Kannada rapper Chandan Shetty is facing the heat for a song on “Ganja”. Bengaluru Police have summoned him for questioning for allegedly encouraging the youth to smoke “Ganja” and take drugs by singing this song.

Shetty recorded this particular song Ganja for a yet to be released Kannada film Anthya three years ago. The shooting of the film has also not yet been completed.

A puzzled Shetty appeared before the City Crime Branch (CCB) on Tuesday to give his version.

Speaking to News18, he defended the song saying that it was just a song for an album and a film and the police action is totally strange and unwarranted.

“I am a professional singer. I sing songs. I don’t write them. If any producer or director asks me to sing a particular song I do that. I don’t bother about the content. Even a great Kannada mystic Saint Shishunala Sharief wrote and sang on Ganja three centuries ago. They are hugely popular even today. Can we prosecute him or the famous singers for that? Cinema is an entertainment. It has all kinds of plots including rape and murder. Can we arrest the filmmakers for encouraging such things or crime?” he said.

He added that the film Anthya has a message for the youth about the dangers of drugs and the police must watch that first.

Reacting to this, Bengaluru police commissioner T Suneel Kumar said “we came to know that Chandan Shetty’s song Ganja may encourage the youth to use drugs. We have summoned him for questioning”.

Chandan Shetty is a popular Kannada rapper and many of his songs are internet sensations.

The police action has been criticized by many in the film industry as stupid and foolish. “Drug usage is rampant in Bengaluru. Organised criminal gangs are behind it. Instead of cracking down on them, they are after a poor rapper for his song. It shows inefficiency of the police” said a noted film music director.