NCB arrests Rajput’s domestic help Deepak Sawant; Rhea’s brother Showik and Miranda in custody till Sept 9
In their effort to wind up the crime reconstruction process, the CBI on Saturday re-visited the residence of late Sushant Singh Rajput — this time along with a team of doctors from AIIMS for a forensic examination, even as the actress Rhea Chakraborty’s brother Showik and Sushant’s house manager Samuel Miranda were remanded in the NCB’s custody till September 9 in the Sushant death-related drug case.
Continuing with its investigations in the drug case, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Saturday evening arrested Suahant’s domestic help Deepak Sawant. “He (Sawant) was subjected to interrogation and confrontation with Showik, Samuel Miranda, Zaid and Kaizan. His statement under Section 67 of the NDPS Act was recorded and on the basis of enough corroborative evidence, he has been placed under arrest,” a statement by the NCB said.
While seeking the custody of Showik and Samuel, the NCB made a startling claim before a metropolitan court and said the “drug angle” in the Sushant death case “is highly substantive” and “needs to be investigated thoroughly so as to uproot the drug citadel in Mumbai especially in Bollywood”.
Informed sources said Sushant's elder sister Meetu Singh, cook Neeraj Singh, domestic help Keshav and actor's friend and flatmate Siddharth Pithani accompanied the CBI team in its visit to sixth floor duplex flat at Mont Blanc building at Bandra's Carter Road in north-west Mumbai, where the late actor allegedly hanged himself on the intervening night of June 14 and 15.
The AIIMS doctors' visit to late Sushant's home came 14 days after the CBI re-constructed the crime scene and did a dummy test of how the actor could have hanged himself. They re-examined the crime scene and exchanged notes with the CBI officials.
Sources said the forensic examination, conducted by the AIIMS doctors, is aimed at ascertaining if it was a homicide or a suicide. The team will study the Sushant's autopsy report, injury pattern on Sushant's body and correlate it with circumstantial evidence. The team will also examine the preserved viscera and check and analyse if any anti-depressants were given to the actor in the run-up to his alleged suicide.
During the course of the visit to late Sushant's flat, the CBI also once again briefly questioned the actor's sister Meethu, cook Neeraj, flatmate Siddharth and domestic help Keshav.
In a related development, Showik Chakraborty and Samuel Miranda - who were arrested on Friday night after they were booked under 20 (b) and other sections of the NPDS Act - were on Saturday produced before the 64th Metropolitan Magistrate NN Joshi who remanded them in NCB's custody till September 9.
In a remand application filed before the court, NCB's Intelligence officer K Kiran Babu said: "The NCB is investigating the drug angle in the Rajput case and therefore it is highly substantive and needs to be investigated thoroughly so as to uproot drug citadel in Mumbai especially in Bollywood".
Hinting at the possibility of it summoning Sushant's ex-girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty, the NCB said in its remand application: "He (Showik) has to be confronted with Dipesh Sawant and Rhea Chakrborty also, as there are specific roles/ingredients of conspiracy theory, abetments and various attempts to commit offences."
"The financial trail of all their previous transactions of drug purchase has to be verified.... Further some characters are to be verified, who as per CDR analysis, WhatsApp chat and preliminary interrogation are deeply entrenched in the drug trafficking, which is a serious threat to the public safety and public health," the NCB stated in its remand application.
Indicating that Rhea would be summoned for questioning in connection with the drug case, NCB's deputy director general Mutha Ashok Jain said: "We will be asking her (Rhea) to join the investigation, and maybe to some other people as well," Jain said.
"We will look into the inter-State and international connections in the drugs angle," Jain said, giving an indication of the extensive nature of the investigations in the case.
The NCB's remand application stated that it was seeking Showik's custody as for interrogation in view of the fact that "he has given so many names with whom he was dealing in drugs" and went onto cite the grounds for his custody."
The NCB's remand application mentions two alleged drug peddlers Abbas Ramzan Ali Lakhani (21) and Karan Arora who were arrested on August 28 along with 46 grams of marijuana and 13 grams of ganja respectively.
According to the remand application, Showik used to facilitate drug deliveries and payments through cash, credit cards, payment gateways for the contraband drugs.
Showik's involvement emerged after the NCB Mumbai and New Delhi teams on August 28 arrested Abbas R Lakhani and Karn V Arora from old Kurla and Chandivali, Powai, each with possession of 46 gms of marijuana/ganja and 13 gms, respectively.
The two alleged drug peddlers disclosed the involvement of Zaid Vilatra whose home was raided to unearth Rs 9.50 lakh, USD-2,081, 180 British Pounds and UAE 15 Dirhams which they confessed were the proceeds of sale of drugs like marijuana/ganja/bud to many people in the city.
Vilatra was arrested on September 2 and remanded to custody for 7 days by the same court, and during interrogation, he revealed the names of a buyer Abdel Basit Parihar, who was arrested on September 3.
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 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.