The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has made applications before a special court seeking to record the voice samples of Showik Chakraborty and seven co-accused in the drugs case related to late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
Special Public Prosecutor for the agency Atul Sarpande said that the NCB needs the voice samples to confirm voice calls it has recovered.
The other seven accused whose voice samples the NCB wants to record are Zaid Vilatra, Kshitij Prasad, Anuj Keswani, Kaizan Ebrahim, Sanket Patel, Dwayne Fernandes and Abbas Ali Lakhani.
The plea was made before the special court mid-last week. The court had then called for the response of the accused on the pleas. While they were to be filed on Thursday, none of the accused has filed their responses.
Of the eight, only Anuj Keswani is still in judicial custody. His bail plea filed this week is pending. All the others have secured bail. It was after the Supreme Court ruling which termed statements recorded by officers under Section 67 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act produced as voluntary “confessional” statements, as inadmissible in evidence, that some accused including Showik secured bail.
The NCB had begun the arrests in end-August with Abbas Lakhani. In early September, Showik was arrested and then his sister Rhea, who got bail from the Bombay High Court in October. Showik secured bail from the special court in December after three months in jail.
