A Special court here on Tuesday extended the judicial custody of actress Rhea Chakraborty in the Sushant Singh Rajput-related drug case till October 20, even as Rhea’s family’s family lawyer Satish Maneshinde charged that the actor’s family and their lawyers were “interfering and tampering” with the investigations.
The special court also extended the remand of Rhea’s brother, Showik Chakraborty, and others till October 20.
In a related development, the Bombay High Court –which had on September 29 reserved its verdict on the bail pleas of Rhea, Showik and others in the same case – is expected to deliver its order on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Rhea’s family lawyer Satish Maneshinde charged that Sushant’s family and their lawyers were “interfering and tampering” with the investigations, by raising doubts about the probe carried out by the CBI and the forensic report submitted to it by the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) which has ruled out murder in the Sushant death and said it was a clear case of “suicide”.
Maneshinde’s statement came on the day when the Special court extended Chakrabortys’ judicial custody by another fortnight i.e., till October 20.
“ The CBI is independently and impartially investigating both the cases and the agency is supposed to be insulated and free from any interference,” Maneshinde said.
“It is disturbing to learn that the family of SSR and its lawyers are interfering and tampering with the investigations by bringing pressure on the AIIMS team of doctors by speaking to them during investigations and releasing purported audio recorded conversations and information to the media in order to bring pressure and tamper with potential witnesses,” Maneshinde said.
“The SSR family lawyer (Vikas Singh) is supposed to have said that he is going to meet the CBI Director to get the family’s pre-determined path of investigations in SSR death. It is very disturbing to read such information in the media as attempts are being made to get a pre-determined result in the case,” Maneshinde said.
“Any further attempts to interfere and tamper with the investigations would be brought to the notice of the appropriate courts, Maneshinde added.
It may be recalled that Rhea was arrested on September 8, after 19-long hours of grilling carried out during a span of three days. Her brother Showik had been arrested five days earlier.
Rhea, Showik and other accused in the Sushant death-related drug case had moved the high court after the Special Court had rejected their bail applications on September 11.
During the questioning, Rhea reportedly admitted that she had procured drugs for Sushant through her currently arrested brother Showik Chakraborty, that she had acknowledged that she knew about Samuel purchasing drugs for the actor from drug peddler Zaid Vilatra and that she had accepted that she had accepted drug-related WhatsApp chats between her and others
On her part, Rhea has however retracted the confessional statement recorded by the NCB ahead of her arrest.
After hearing both the sides, the Bombay High Court had on September 29 reserved its order on the bail applications of accused actress Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik and others in the Sushant Singh Rajput death-related drug case, after observing that its verdict would have “wide reach and repercussions” and that it would pass separate orders in all matters.
After hearing all the sides, Justice S. V. Kotwal of the Bombay High Court had said: “Arguments on the matter are closed. The matter is now reserved for orders. Due to voluminous proceedings, the order may take some time”.
“This judgment has wide reach and repercussions. I will try to write separate orders in all matters, but I might end up attributing Sayyed's arguments of Sayyed (advocate for co-accused Abel Basit Parihar to (Satish) Maneshinde. Please excuse me for that,” the Judge had noted.
During the hearing before the high court, Advocate Satish Maneshinde had among other things argued for the bail applicants that the NCB had no jurisdiction to handle the case after the Supreme Court directed the CBI to investigate the cases relating to Sushant’s death.
The NCB had told the high court that the Supreme Court has directed the CBI to take over investigation, if any new case was registered “on the death of Sushant Singh Rajput and the surrounding circumstances of his unnatural death” and the direction “was not with respect to the present case” registered under provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.
“The present applicant (Rhea) is a prominent member of the supply chain of drugs and majorly she is handling finance also…and used to manage finance for drug procurement along with Sushant Singh Rajput,” the NCB had said in its affidavit opposing Rhea’s bail application.