Indian cricketer Rahul Sharma and South African Wayne Parnell are facing drugs charges in connection with their detention at a late-night party last year following an Indian Premier League game, reports said on Thursday.
The two Pune Warriors players were among nearly 100 people detained for medical testing at an upmarket hotel in Mumbai last May which was raided by police who found drugs on the premises.
Both IPL cricketers had tested positive for drugs consumed at the high-profile party in May 2012.
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The Mumbai police on Thursday filed a chargesheet in 'a rave party' case, wherein both Parnell and Sharma along with actor couple Apoorva Agnihotri and Shilpa Agnihotri, and others had been rounded up after a raid on a suburban Mumbai hotel.
Parnell is among the wanted accused foreigners who left the country after the medical examination, the report said.
Indian leggie Rahul Sharma (left) and South African pacer Wayne Parnell are in a pickle. File Pic
The police had conducted a raid in May last year on a party at a hotel in suburban Juhu, where drugs were allegedly being consumed, and rounded up around 86 persons.
"We have filed a 1,200-page chargesheet against 86 persons while 35 accused, mostly foreigners, have been shown as wanted," said a police official.
The wanted accused include foreigners who left the country after the medical examination.
The chargesheet names Vishay Handa, the Director of the hotel, s Deepesh Sharma and Rakesh Sharma, Agnihotris, and Sharma, among others.
The special NDPS Act court will first take cognisance of the chargesheet and then issue summons to the accused.
Both players have denied any wrongdoing.
Sharma said they had been invited by a friend to the gathering, a birthday celebration, which had appeared to be a "normal party" before the arrival of the police who found cocaine, MDMA and cannabis.
The leg-spinner had said after being detained, “I am sure my results won’t be positive. If tests are positive, I’ll quit cricket.”
Parnell had claimed that he and his fellow Pune Warriors team-mate were innocent and that they were “at the wrong place at the wrong time”. Although Parnell admitted that both the players were present at the party, he said they were unaware of any drugs being supplied there.
26-year-old Sharma has so far bagged six wickets in four one-day internationals and three wickets in two Twenty20 matches for India.
Left-arm paceman Parnell, 23, has played three Tests, 27 one-dayers and 17 T20 games for South Africa.
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