A Mumbai sessions court on Thursday reserved its order till Friday on the bail applications of Bollywood actress Rhea Chakraborty and her brother Showik in a drug case relating to actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death.
A day after he moved an application before the sessions court seeking bail for the arrested actress, Rhea’s lawyer Satish Maneshinde argued that his client was “innocent”, that she “has not committed any crime whatsoever” and that “she has been falsely implicated in the case”. Maneshinde, who is also seeking bail for Showik, told the court that Rhea and her younger brother had cooperated with the investigations. “The allegations against the applicants would at the most make out a case of purchasing of drugs which is a bailable offence. There is no shred of evidence to connect the applicants with financing of any illicit traffic or harbouring any offenders,” he said.
In one of the several grounds cited by for grant of bail to Rhea, Maneshinde stated in the bail application filed before the court:a “The application has been arraigned for an offence punishable under section 8 (c) read with 20 (b) (ii) 22, 27 A, 28, 29 and 30 of the NDPS Act, 1985.
Given that no drug and psychotropic substances have been seized from the applicant and the allegations. If any, would pertain strictly to small quantities, and given that though section 27 A has been applied, the ingredients have thereof not been made out, the bar under section 37 (1) of the NDPS would not apply in the present circumstances. Thus the offence, if any, is bailable in nature the Applicant ought to be enlarged on bail”.
The other ground that Maneshinde cited for the release of Rhea and Showik on bail is the “ground of parity” since three other accused arrested in connection with the same have been released on bail. He also told the court that the section 27 (A) of NDPS Act, 1985 pertaining to financing illicit traffic of drugs had been applied only in the case of Rhea and Showik although “no seizures have been made from the two”.
In her bail plea, Rhea has also said that she had been subjected to investigations by three agencies, and there had so far been “substantial media trial”. “All these proceedings have taken a toll on her mental health and well-being. Any further custody would only worsen her condition,” she said.
Rhea told the court that amid the Covid-19 pandemic and a spike in cases in the metropolis, the continued remand would be “gravely prejudicial” to her physical health.
Hours after her arrest in the Sushant Singh Rajput death-related drug case on Tuesday, Rhea was produced before a city court, which rejected her bail application and remanded in judicial custody for 14 days i.e. till September 22.
Rhea and Showik are ten accused arrested in connection with the drug case related to Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. The other arrested accused are: Abbas Lakhani, Karan Arora, Zaid Vilatra, Abdel Basit Parihar, Anuj Keswani, Kaizan Ibrahim, Samuel Miranda and Dipesh Sawant
The NCB's case is based on 59 grams of curated marijuana seized from alleged drug peddlers Abbas Lakhani and Karan Arora who were arrested earlier, and have now been granted bail.
More seizures were made from Anuj Keshvani based on the disclosure from Kaizan Ibrahim, who according to the NCB is another drug peddler who supplied marijuana to Showik Chakraborty and Samuel Miranda through Abdel Basit Parihar.
Keshwani, whose role has made the investigations more complicated. is under examination for questioning. In a statement detailing the drugs seized from Keshwani, the NCB has said: “In continuation of operations against the drug syndicate, a raid was conducted in Mumbai by Mumbai Zonal Unit, NCB. The following drugs were seized: 590 grams of hashish, 0.64 gm of LSD sheets, 304 gms of marijuana, including imported marijuana joints and capsules, Rs 1,85,200 in cash and 5,000 Indonesian Rupian”. The quantity of LSD that has been recovered is commercial quantity under NDPS Act.
Rhea -- whose brother Showik was arrested along with late actor’s house manager Samuel Miranda by the NCB on September 5 in connection with the Sushant death-related drug case – was questioned her about the whatsApp exchanges between Rhea and others that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had shared with the CBI and NCB alleging “procuring and usage” of drugs.
It was on the basis of this WhatsApp message trail that the ED had joined the investigations on August 26 into the allegations that Sushant’s girlfriend Rhea used to procure banned drugs illegally from dealers and administer them to the late actor.
On her part, Rhea had earlier denied consuming drugs and said that she was prepared for a drug test anytime. She, however, admitted that Sushant used to take marijuana and despite her efforts, she could not control him.
During the 19-long hours of grilling carried out during a span of three days, 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.