A Mumbai court, on Wednesday, rejected the bail application filed by late actor Sushant Singh Rajput‘s flatmate, Sidharth Pithani, in the ongoing alleged drugs case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, Bar and Bench reported.
Pithani was booked under multiple sections of the NDPS Act and was arrested by the NCB’s Mumbai unit on May 26 from his residence in Hyderabad. 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 being investigated by the NCB and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
In the bail application filed last month, Pithani had submitted that he had been falsely accused in the case and that no illegal substance or incriminating material was found in his possession that suggested his involvement in dealing with any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance. He also claimed that the NCB’s (Narcotics Control Bureau) case against him was based on a statement made by the co-accused in the case, which has now been retracted.
Opposing Pithani’s bail application, the NCB submitted that there was enough “incriminating material recovered from Pithani’s cell phone and laptop which showed that he used to arrange and consume narcotic drugs and substances in large quantity during his stay with Rajput.”
Recently, on August 5, the Mumbai Sessions Court had rejected the anticipatory bail application filed by actor Deepika Padukone’s former manager, Karishma Prakash in the same case. Prakash was also booked under the NDPS Act.
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In the order that was made available on Wednesday, the court mentioned that “the prosecution was justified in invoking provisions of the offence” under section 27A of NDPS Act in the case.
Rajput’s girlfriend and actor Rhea Chakraborty and her brother Showik Chakraborty were initially arrested in September 2020 for their alleged involvement in drug procurement, but are now out on bail. While granting bail to the actor, the court had said that she was “not a part of the drug dealers.”
In September 2020, the NCB had mentioned that more than 18 people had been arrested in the case.