The Bombay high court on Wednesday is expected to deliver its order on the bail pleas moved by actor Rhea Chakraborty and her brother Showik. The Special NDPS Court on Tuesday extended the judicial custody of the brother-sister duo and 18 others, arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau, till October 20. The actor had moved the high court in September after her first bail plea was denied by a special court in Mumbai on September 11.
Bollywood actor Rhea Chakraborty, who was in a relationship with actor Sushant Singh Rajput, was arrested by the NCB on September 8, on charges of being an active member of a drug syndicate operating in Mumbai. Her brother Showik was arrested on September 4.
The NCB is probing a drug angle related to the death case of Sushant Singh Rajput who was found dead at his Mumbai residence on June 14. The agency, according to Rhea Chakraborty’s lawyer Satish Maneshinde, is basing the allegations against Rhea from one incident from March 17, when Chakraborty gave Miranda her credit card and the latter withdrew Rs 10,000, allegedly to purchase some contraband material for Rajput.
While Maneshinde argued that Rajput was known to have consumed drugs before meeting Rhea Chakraborty, additional solicitor general Anil Singh, on behalf of NCB, had submitted that the NDPS Act does not state that offences are bailable based on the quantity of drugs involved.
After the forensic team of AIIMS asserted that Sushant Singh Rajput died by suicide, demands to release Rhea Chakraborty have been gaining ground. Apart from several Bollywood personalities, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said Rhea should be released without being subjected to further political conspiracy. “We are all pained by the expiry of Sushant ji but he cannot be honoured by falsely implicating a lady as an accused, I have earlier said that Rhea Chakroborty was an innocent lady, she should be released without further harassment to her, she has been the victim of Political conspiracy (sic),” he added.
Since her arrest, Rhea Chakraborty has been in Byculla jail cell, reportedly without a bed or ceiling fan. Her cell is adjacent to the one occupied by Indrani Mukerjea, who was accused of murdering her daughter, Sheena Bora.
