Mumbai: Actress Rhea Chakraborty and her brother Showik had “ordered Dipesh Sawant, cook of Sushant Singh Rajput, to receive drugs”, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) claimed, while seeking Sawant’s custody before a court on Sunday.
Sawant had been arrested on Saturday night on charges of procuring and handling drugs. He is one of the eight arrested accused in the case being probed by the NCB over allegations of procurement, usage and consumption of drugs. Sawant was remanded in NCB custody till September 9.
The NCB has claimed that Showik and Rhea had been procuring drugs from the accused earlier placed under arrest by them. Detailing the chain of drug procurement, NCB told the court that two arrested for drug trafficking, Mohamed Kaizan Ebrahim and Abdul Basit Parihar, had disclosed Sawant’s name during their interrogation.
“During the voluntary statement, Sawant revealed that on March 17, 2020, as per the directions of accused Showik, he went with accused Samuel Miranda to receive delivery of 5 grams of doob/marijuana/cannabis at Bandra from accused Zaid Vilatra,” the agency said.
The agency claims that drugs were procured on multiple occasions. “On April 17, 2020, Rhea Chakbraborty ordered him (Sawant) to receive a delivery of 10 grams charas from a person named accused Kaizan Ebrahim near Mount Blanc building…Through WhatsApp chat on May 1,2020, Showik asked him (Sawant) to receive ganja (marijuana) from a person named Dwayne and also shared the latter's contact number. On May 2, 2020, he also received 50 grams charas from Dwayne. In first week of June, he received 100 grams from a delivery boy of Rishikesh Pawar,”
The agency further said, “It is clear from his (Sawant’s) statement and electronic evidence gathered by NCB, that he is an active member of the drug syndicate connected with high-society personalities and drug suppliers.”
Showik and Miranda were arrested by the agency based on the disclosure of Parihar, 23, and are booked under several sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. The persons arrested in the case are Abbas Lakhani, 21, Karan Arora, Ebrahim, Vilatra, Parihar, Showik, Miranda and Sawant. The agency sought Sawant’s custody on the grounds of tracing his “known and unknown associates” and that “revelations made by him are to be verified”.
