A special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) court on Friday denied bail to actor Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik Chakraborty and four others who are co-accused in the drugs case connected with late actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death.
The siblings’ advocate Satish Maneshide said that he will wait to see the court's order to decide on approaching the Bombay High Court to challenge it.
Rhea had filed her bail plea filed a day after she was arrested on 8 September by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) after three days of questioning. She had been produced through video-conferencing before a magistrate court the very day of her arrest and the court had rejected her bail plea.
Thereafter, in her bail plea before the sessions court the following day, she had said that she fears for her life in jail as she had been receiving hundreds of rape and death threats since past several months.
She also said in her plea that the allegations against her are of "small quantity" of drugs, as classified under the NDPS Act and these are bailable offences punishable by the maximum of one year in prison and that she is entitled to bail.
She had pointed out that Sec 27A of the NDPS Act which pertains to "financing illicit trafficking of drugs and harbouring offenders" had been applied only on her brother Showik and her. This had not been applied to the co-accused though similar allegations have been made against them by the agency, she contended. Some of her co-accused, even those from whom small quantities of drugs were seized (total 59 gm of Ganja), had been granted bail, she had said.
The agency had opposed her bail plea and that of Showik. Opposing Showik’s bail plea the agency had said citing the drugs seized from co-accused that it made a case for the commercial quantity of drugs under the NDPS Act and hence that the argument of small quantity does not stand. From one co-accused LSD was seized.
The NCB also called Showik an “active member of the drug syndicate” who used to manage drug procurement along with Sushant Singh and was “party to a deep-rooted criminal conspiracy”.
The agency said he had been booked under Sec 27A which is a non-bailable offence punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment and that as per the provisions of the NDPS Act, to grant bail under for someone charged under this section, the court would need to have a prima-facie opinion that they are not guilty of the offences. Finally, the NCB said that if released on bail, Showik may tamper evidence and win witnesses by using his position in society and money power.
The court on Friday also rejected the bail pleas of the other co-accused in the case - Zaid Vilatra, Abdel Basit Parihar, Sushant’s house manager Samuel Miranda and house staff Dipesh Sawant.
