Kochi, Sept 6: The husband of Kannada serial actress D Anikha, who was arrested in a Bengaluru drug case, and Okawo Collins, a Nigerian prisoner on trial in a Kochi drug case, are close friends, investigations have revealed.

Anikha’s husband, a Nigerian, has gone into hiding after her arrest. Although documents show his name to 'Rahman', the investigation team suspects it could be fake. The two Nigerians arrived in Goa in 2014.

On January 31, 2015, actor Shine Tom Chacko, Reshma Rangaswamy, Blessy Sylvester, Tinsey Babu and Sneha Babu were arrested during a night party at a private flat in Kadavanthara. Okawo was arrested on the basis of Reshma's statement.

He told the investigators that the drugs for the party were supplied by one Franco in Goa. However, Franco could not be found. The police felt that Franco was a fictional character created by Okawo to mislead the investigation. But, now, they suspect that Franco could be the husband of the arrested Anikha.

This could, in effect, mean that the drug racket uncovered in Bengaluru may have had connections with the Malayalam film industry since 2015, say officials in the investigation team.

Although Okawo Collins had revealed to the police that four newgen actors, two directors and two producers in Kochi were his clients, the investigation did not reach them.

Some of the filmmakers who are said to be in the friend circle of Kochi native Anoop Mohammad, who has been arrested in the Bengaluru drug case along with Anikha, were the ones named by Okawo, too, in 2015, the police said.

According to Rijesh Raveendran, an accomplice of Anoop who is also in police custody, he started dealing in drugs in 2015. He said he met Anoop at a music concert in Goa that year. Okawo had also told the police that it was during a music concert in Goa that Franco gave him the packets of cocaine to be delivered to Kochi.