Actor Rhea Chakraborty was arrested on Tuesday and produced before the court after many rounds of interrogation. She was arrested on charges of allegedly arranging and financing consumption of marijuana by her boyfriend, Sushant Singh Rajput, with the help of her brother, Showik, Sushant’s house manager Samuel Miranda and cook Dipesh Sawant.
Furthermore, NCB described Rhea as part of an “active drug syndicate” connected with drug suppliers. The agency, however, did not ask for her custody and instead requested that she be sent to judicial custody. A magistrate remanded her in judicial custody till September 22.
Rhea’s lawyer Satish Maneshinde is likely to move sessions court for bail on Wednesday. He termed her arrest a “travesty of justice”. Rhea faces a minimum punishment of 10 years in jail and maximum of 20 years and a fine not less than Rs 1 lakh.
Rhea has been booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Pyschotropic Substances Act under section 8(c) which deals with possession and purchase, 20B (II) for possession, purchase and transporting, 27 for financing illicit traffic, 28 for attempt to commit offences, and 29 for abetment and criminal conspiracy.
“We are getting information and we will not spare anyone whose names are figuring in the investigations,” said NCB deputy DG Mutha Ashok Jain.
The NCB’s mandate is to bust organised drug syndicates and unearth factories that are into manufacturing contraband. The application adds: “These deliveries (of marijuana) used to be received by aides of Sushant and every delivery and payment was in conscious knowledge of Rhea Chakraborty and even sometimes payment and choice of drugs was confirmed from Rhea.”
Rhea is the tenth person to be arrested in the NCB’s probe into drug use involving Rajput. The remand application said Rhea’s brother Showik has revealed that he facilitated delivery of drugs through peddlers Basit Parihar, Kaizan Ibrahim and Zaid Vilatra.
Showik is accused of or ganising weed (marijuana) for Sushant between September 2019 and March 2020. There are chat messages between Rhea, Showik and Samuel involving discussions of procurement of drugs.
Rhea’s statements that she was trying to rehab Sushant was contrary to her whatsapp chats that forced the enforcement directorate to investigate the drug angle in Sushant Singh case. The ED had found chat messages pertaining to drugs on Rhea’s mobile, which triggered this investigation. The ED passed on the details to the NCB.
NCB officials said she was placed under arrest at around 3.30pm. Rhea appeared before the NCB at 9.30am on Tuesday and carried a bag containing a pair of clothes and a water bottle with her.
Her lawyer Satish Maneshinde termed her arrest as a “travesty of justice”.