In a day of dramatic developments that began with the raids carried out on their residences and seizure of electronic devices allegedly containing incriminating evidence, the the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Friday night arrested late Sushant Singh Rajput’s house manager Samuel Miranda and actress Rhea Chakraborty’s brother Showik in connection with a drug case registered in connection with the Sushant death case.
After the day-long questioning during which they allegedly confessed to having procured drugs for late Sushant, Showik and Samuel were booked under various relevant sections of law for drug procurement and abuse.
Earlier in the day, as part of the investigations into the Sushant death-related drug case, the NCB sleuths went overdrive in their effort to bust Bollywood-drug mafia nexus and carried out searches at the residences of Showik and Samuel and seized electronic devices like laptops and smartphones.
After the raids at their residences that lasted for four to five hours, Showik and Samuel were taken to the NCB’s regional headquarters at the Ballard Estate in south Mumbai, where they were grilled separately. Later in the day, they were confronted with each other.
The investigations should be in the context of the fact that Rhea, Showik and Miranda were among the closest to actor Sushant Singh Rajput, who allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself to a ceiling fan in his closed room of a duplex flat at Mont Blanc building at Bandra’s Carter Road on June 14.
During her interviews with television channels, Rhea had claimed that Sushant used to smoke marijuana.
The investigations by the NCB are focused on the procurement of the contraband and supply to the 34-year-old Sushant.
Meanwhile, Abdel Basit Parihar, an alleged drug peddler, has been remanded in NCB custody till September 9. Parihar was made to join the investigation based on Zaid Vilatra’s interrogation. Both Basit and Zaid are understood to be involved in the alleged drug peddling and supplying contraband to high-profile people.
On his part, Sushant’s father Krishna Kishore Singh has blamed the former’s live-in partner Rhea Chakraborty behind the death of the actor.
During the raids, digital devices of Showik and Miranda were checked. The WhatsApp chats of Showik, Rhea and Miranda, accessed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and passed onto the NCB, had earlier revealed the drug angle in the Sushant Singh Rajput deadth case.
During the last few days, Goa-based hotelier Gaurav Arya has been grilled by ED. Chats between him and Rhea too have revealed the drug angle.
In a related development, Sushant’s sister Shweta Singh Kirti tweeted: “Good going NCB... Thank You God.”
On Thursday, a Mumbai court had remanded an alleged contraband dealer Zaid Vaitra (21), who has been arrested in connection with the drugs trafficking case linked to the case of actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, in the custody of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) till September 9.
The NCB had said on Wednesday it had arrested Vilatra and one Basit Parihar in connection with the Sushant death-linked drug trafficking case
“We have recovered Indian currency worth Rs 9,55,750 and foreign currency (USD 2,081, 180 British Pounds, 15 dirhams), which the NCB claimed are “proceeds of drug peddling”, were recovered from Vilatra,” a NCB official had said.
Zaid runs an eatery at Bandra in north-west Mumbai which, he said, the NCB was not giving any pecuniary gains since lockdown.
The NCB official said Zaid was allegedly into drug peddling, especially bud, through which he used to earn a substantial amount of money.
A resident of suburban Bandra, Parihar is “learnt to have linkages” with the narcotics case registered against Rajput’s girlfriend and actress Rhea Chakraborty and others, officials said.
The role of Rhea’s brother Showik Chakraborty and his purported links with people nabbed by NCB are under the scanner of the NCB.
Rhea, her parents Indrajit and Sandhya Chakraborty, her brother Showik, Sushaant’s ex-manager Shruti Manager Shruti Modi and others have been named in an FIR lodged by the actor’s father KK Singh with Rajiv Nagar police station in Patna. It was on the basis of this FIR that the Supreme Court ordered the transfer of the Sushant Singh Rajput death case to the CBI on August 19.
Rhea, her parents, her brother and others have been booked as part of this FIR under sections 341 (wrongful restraint) 342 (wrongful confinement, 380 (theft), 406 (breach of trust),420 (cheating), 306 ( abetting suicide) and 120-B ( conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. The CBI, ED and NCB are investigating the case from different angles.