Actor Rhea Chakraborty and her brother Showik Chakraborty, who are out on bail in a drugs procurement case linked to investigations involving actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, have been named along with 31 others in Narcotics Control Bureau’s massive charge sheet on Friday, Live Law reported.
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 resulted in a massive drug probe being investigated by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Rhea Chakraborty and Showik Chakraborty were arrested on September 8, 2020 and September 4, 2020 respectively by the NCB for involvement in drugs procurement. The NCB accused the siblings of facilitating drug deliveries and made payments for drugs.
Rhea Chakraborty, Rajput’s girlfriend, was granted bail on October 7, 2020 by the Bombay High Court, while her brother was granted bail in early December.
While granting bail to Rhea Chakraborty, the court had said that she was “not a part of the drug dealers” and that she had “not forwarded the drugs allegedly procured by her to somebody else to earn monetary or other benefits.”
However, on Friday, 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.
A large part of the charge sheet has been filed on a hard drive as well.
With over 200 witnesses, the charge sheet has focused mainly on the confiscation of narcotics and psychotropic substances that falls under the provisions of Section 20(b), 22, 23 of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act from the accused. The charge sheet also includes statements on voluntary disclosure and technical evidence including connectivity through phone calls, WhatsApp chats and bank accounts details or financial transactions.
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“During investigation, several seizures of various narcotics drugs and psychotropic substances, electronic gadgets and Indian as well as foreign currency were affected. The technical gadgets and the mobile phones were analysed and the relevant incriminating evidence regarding the sale , purchase, procurement, consumption and possession of narcotics drugs were extracted. Drugs seized were sent for chemical examination,” the NCB further mentioned.
Several celebrities who were previously issued a notice or summoned by the NCB related to the same drugs case include Karan Johar, Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan, Shraddha Kapoor, Rakul Preet Singh, Bharti Singh, Arjun Rampal’s sister Komal Rampal, Prasad, Demetriades, among others.
The NCB mentioned that the investigation is still under process.