A special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act court, on Thursday, granted the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) the permission to record the statements of Showik Chakraborty and late actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s personal staff member Dipesh Sawant in Taloja prison.
In its plea, filed through Special Public Prosecutor Atul Sarpande on Tuesday, the agency said that in his statement, Showik had disclosed a few names of high-profile personalities in relation to drugs. It also told the court that his mobile data that it retrieved discloses his involvement in the dealing of drugs and his call details reveal that he had long chats or conversations with a few high-profile personalities. This aspect needs to be investigated further to ascertain the depth of his involvement in the crime, it added in its application. It had sought the cooperation of prison authorities in facilitating the presence of Showik to record his statement.
Special judge under the NDPS Act GB Gurao allowed investigating officer SN Prasad of the agency’s Mumbai branch to visit Taloja prison for the purpose as requested by the agency. The statements will be recorded in the presence of jail authorities. The court has directed that the prison’s superintendent be informed about its order.
Showik was arrested by the NCB on September 5 along with Rajput’s house manager Samuel Miranda. After four days of custodial interrogation, Showik was sent to judicial custody or prison on September 9 and has been in the Taloja prison since then. Dipesh Sawant had been arrested a day after Showik.
