In the biggest drug seizure made as part the ongoing investigations into the Sushant Singh Rajput death-related drug case, the made in recent times, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has seized Malana Cream Hash worth around Rs 2.50 crore and arrested the supplier Jinendra Jain alias Rigel Mahakal in connection with the seizure.
Giving the details of the drug seizure and the barest made, NCB’s Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede said here on Wednesday that the name of Mahakal had figured in the custodial interrogation of another accused Anuj Keshwani who was arrested on September 7 for his alleged involvement as a suppliers of Charas and Hashish in Mumbai.
Mahakal’s arrest came on the heels of the raids carried out at Andheri (west) in north-west Mumbai between Tuesday night and early Wednesday. He is the supplier of the Malana Cream Hash – ranked as the purest form of Hashish. He was initially detained and later placed under arrest in the early hours of Wednesday.
As part of its investigations, the NCP also arrested one Mohammed Azam J. Shaikh and recovered 5 kilograms of Malana Cream Charas, some Opium and Ecstacy worth Rs.13.51 lakhs from his home at Oshiwara in north-west Mumbai. Shaikh is considered the main supplier of Charas in the Sushant Singh death-linked drug case.
“The ‘Malana Cream’ is the most desirable Charas in the world and is grown only in the Malana region of Himachal Pradesh. Its international market price ranges from Rs.40-50 lakh per kilogram,” Wankhede said. The drug seizure and arrests have been made in the case registered by the NCB in connection with the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
Sushant, it may be recalled, was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his closed room of his duplex flat at Mont Blanc building at Bandra’s Carter Road in north-west Mumbai on June 14.
The NCB has registered two drugs cases in the wake of the investigations launched by the CBI into the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput in June this year upon the directive issued by the Supreme Court.
More than 25 persons –including Sushant’s girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty and her brother Showik --- have been arrested and a large number of persons have been questioned in connection with a case registered by the NCB on August 28, two days after it registered a case suo moto. Subsequently, Rhea was granted conditional bail by the Bombay High Court in the Sushant death-related drug case on October 7, 2020.
The NCB had registered a second case after it told the Mumbai court that it wants to “to uproot the drug citadel in Mumbai especially in Bollywood”.
As part of the investigations into the second case, the NCB had earlier questioned Bollywood’s prominent actresses Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan, Shraddha Kapoor and Rakul Preet Singh.
In connection with the second case – described as a Bollywood-drug mafia nexus case, the NCB arrested Bharti Singh, her husband Harsh Limbachiyaa and film producer Firoz A. Nadiadwala’s wife Shabana Saeed last month. Last month, the NCB also raided the residence of Bollywood actor Arjun Rampal, questioned him and his live-in partner Gabriella Demetriades and arrested his Australian-architect friend Paul Bartel.