Mumbai: A Mumbai court Friday sent Sushant Singh Rajput’s former flatmate Siddharth Pithani, arrested in Hyderabad and brought here, to the custody of the Narcotics Control Bureau till June 1 in connection with a drug case linked with the death of the Bollywood actor last year.
Among the prime suspects in the case, Pithani was absconding since long, but was arrested by the NCB in a joint operation with its Hyderabad office Wednesday, May 26.
After getting a transit warrant from a Hyderabad court, Pithani was brought to Mumbai and produced before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate at the Esplanade Court this afternoon, and it sent him to NCB remand for four days.
Seeking his remand, the NCB lawyer said that it wanted to probe his role and nexus with others accused in illicit drug trafficking rackets and details of his links with contraband dealers to unearth the full truth and ensure justice is done.
The other co-accused in the same case, Samuel Miranda and Dipesh Sawant, had spilled the beans on Pithani in their statements, claiming he was in direct with not only Rajput, but also with actress Rhea Chakraborty and her brother Showik Chakraborty, who were also arrested in the case last year.
Pithani’s arrest came nearly 3 months after the NCB filed a charge sheet in the Sushant case before a Mumbai special court March 5, naming 33 persons including the Chakraborty siblings and many others.
A former flat-mate of Sushant, Pithani was among the earliest persons who had seen the actor’s body found hanging in his Bandra apartment June 14, 2020, as the death sparked off a nationwide political furore.
Pithani, who failed to honour previous summonses by the NCB, has been booked under various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Act.
