KOCHI: Actor Sreenath Bhasi withdrew his anticipatory bail petition filed in connection with the seizure of hybrid cannabis allegedly found with a woman in Alappuzha before the Kerala High Court. The decision came after it came to be known that he was not among the movie stars who had come under the police scanner in the case.

When the petition came up for hearing on Monday, Bhasi’s counsel requested to withdraw it. The court then dismissed the bail plea as withdrawn.

According to the actor’s petition, the Excise Enforcement and Anti-Narcotic Special Squad, Alappuzha district, had arrested Christina, alias Tasleema Sultan, from a resort in Alappuzha with contraband meant for sale.

During interrogation, she had reportedly given a statement that she knew almost all the cine actors in the Malayalam film industry and had sold them the drug.

Bhasi’s petition said that he had learnt from the media that the excise official had found a WhatsApp chat from the woman’s phone on the transaction of the cannabis with the petitioner.

The petitioner claimed that the woman had introduced herself as Christina and obtained his number during a film shooting in Kozhikode in November last through another friend. She told the petitioner she was a fan of his and watched all his films. She had once called him all of a sudden and offered him cannabis for sale. Thereafter, she sent a WhatsApp message, “do the petitioner needs”.

He thought that it was the woman teasing him and replied saying “wait”. However, the petitioner never replied to her chats later.

Bhasi insisted he was entirely innocent.

He stated in the withdrawn petition that he was now acting in a film, the shooting of which is in the Ernakulam district.