Mumbai: A special court here Friday rejected the bail pleas of Rhea Chakraborty and her brother Showik. Both have been arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in connection with a drugs-related case pertaining to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. The court also rejected the bail pleas of four other accused in the case. Special Judge GB Gurao rejected their bail applications. All the accused are currently in judicial custody. It means that Rhea Chakraborty will spend some more time in prison.
Special public prosecutor Atul Sarpande appeared for the NCB. He welcomed the decision and said the court, while rejecting the bail pleas, has accepted the contentions of the prosecution that the investigation is at a crucial stage.
Rhea’s lawyer Satish Maneshinde said they would decide further course of action after perusing the court order.
“Once we get a copy of the order passed by the special NDPS court, we will decide next week on further course of action. We will also think about approaching the Bombay High Court,” Maneshinde stated.
In her bail plea, Rhea had claimed that she was falsely implicated in the case. Rhea had also retracted the confessional statement recorded by the NCB when she was questioned for three days. She had claimed that the NCB officials had coerced her into making self-incriminating statements.
The NCB had strongly opposed the bail pleas. The probe agency said that Rhea was conscious of the fact that Rajput was consuming drugs. Despite that she continued procuring and making payments for drugs.
The NCB had said that the quantity of banned drugs seized in the case was small. However, it was still a commercial quantity and worth Rs 1,85,200.
“Rhea Chakraborty and Showik Chakraborty financed and arranged drugs for Sushant Singh Rajput. This was done at the actor’s instructions,” the NCB had said in its affidavit responding to the bail pleas.
It added that as per the statement given by co-accused and Rajput’s domestic help Dipesh Sawant, he used to procure drugs from other accused in the case on the instructions of Rajput and Rhea.
“The financial transactions were handled by Rhea and sometimes Rajput. Dipesh Sawant used to procure drugs along with co-accused Samuel Miranda for Sushant Singh Rajput’s consumption,” the affidavit said.
The NCB had further said that if the accused are released on bail, they may tamper with evidence. They also may try to intimidate key witnesses in the case.
