A Mumbai special court on Tuesday extended the judicial remand of actor Rhea Chakraborty and her brother Showik Chakraborty till October 20.
This comes on the heels of the expert panel from AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) concluding on October 3 that actor and Rhea’s partner Sushant Singh Rajput’s death was a case of suicide and not murder. The CBI had stated that it will likely continue its investigation in the original charge- abetment to suicide – that was listed by the Bihar Police.
Rajput was found dead in his Bandra residence on June 14. Chakraborty was first questioned in an alleged drugs probe launched by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) as part of an investigation into the late actor’s death. She was later arrested on September 8 and was sentenced to 14 days of judicial custody for allegedly procuring illegal drugs for the actor. Her judicial custody was later extended till October 6.
Even though Rajput’s death was initially termed as a suicide by the Mumbai Police and the hospital in Mumbai that conducted the autopsy, the CBI and later the NCB were brought in to investigate after conspiracy theories and stories made rounds on social media.
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Rhea’s brother Showik and Rajput’s house manager Samuel Miranda were arrested on September 4 and a staff member Dipesh Sawant was arrested on September 5. The NCB also questioned actors Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan and Rakul Preet Singh in connection to the drug probe.
The court had previously rejected bail pleas of the two, following which they moved the Bombay High Court to seek bail. The High Court has reserved its order on their pleas.
In response to the bail pleas, the NCB reportedly told the court that a strong message must be sent out to youngsters to ensure that they do not consume drugs.
Many took to social media to express their concerns over Rhea being in jail for a month now. Earlier in the day, filmmaker Anubhav Sinha had tweeted out to release the actor. Replying to his tweet, actor Swara Bhasker wrote: “RELEASE #RHEACHAKRABORTY.”
RELEASE #RHEACHAKRABORTY https://t.co/JnE4bQvIOL
— Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) October 6, 2020