A special court in Mumbai, on Monday, rejected the bail application filed by Sidharth Pithani, late actor Sushant Singh Rajput‘s flatmate, in the ongoing drugs case registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, Bar and Bench reported.
Pithani was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau’s Mumbai unit on May 26 at his residence in Hyderabad. He was booked under multiple sections of the NDPS Act.
Rajput died by suicide on June 14, 2020 in Mumbai, which sparked several controversies regarding mental health issues and nepotism in the Hindi film industry. It also led to a massive drug probe that is being investigated by the NCB and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Subsequently, Rajput’s family filed cases against the late actor’s girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty and her brother Showik Chakraborty alleging that they mishandled Rajput’s money and procured drugs for him. The Chakraborty siblings are currently out on conditional bail.
In March this year, the NCB’s Mumbai Zonal Unit submitted an 11,700-page charge sheet naming the Chakraborty siblings along with Agisilaos Demetriades (brother of Arjun Rampal‘s partner Gabriella Demetriades) and Kshitij Prasad (former Dharma Productions employee), along with 29 others. Among the 33 accused, eight continue to be in custody.
In his bail application, Pithani’s lawyer stated that his client was produced before the Metropolitan Magistrate in Hyderabad on May 26 and has been in judicial custody since June 4. As per the Bar and Bench report, his lawyer relied upon the judgment by the Bombay High Court that observed the non-applicability of Section 27A in the Chakraborty case, which arose from the same FIR as Pithani’s.
Pithani’s lawyer pointed out that the investigation officer has to file the chargesheet within a period of 60 days as per the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Since his client was arrested and first produced on May 26, the period of 60 days expired on July 25, and Pithani was thus “entitled to be released on statutory bail.”
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Opposing the bail plea, the lawyer representing NCB informed the court that Pithani’s bail was previously rejected by the special NDPS Court after considering the point of applicability of Section 27A and inadmissibility of statements under Section 67 of the NDPS Act.
Earlier, on August 11, the Special NDPS Court had rejected bail to Pithani in the case while observing that “the prosecution was justified in invoking provisions of the offence” under section 27A of the NDPS Act in the case.
The special court, on Monday, noted that for crimes registered under Section 27A of the NDPS Act, the provisions of Section 36A (offences triable by special courts) would be applicable, under which the time period for filing of chargesheet is 180 days.
Since this 180 days statutory period was yet to be completed, the court rejected Pithani’s bail application.