Rhea Chakraborty linked to drugs supply racket in Bollywood, claims NCB
Darpan News Desk IANS, 13 Jul, 2022 04:31 PM
Mumbai, July 13 (IANS) In a startling development, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has claimed that actress Rhea Chakraborty and others were allegedly involved in a major criminal conspiracy to run a drugs racket, for Bollywood and other high society people.
In its draft charges filed before a Mumbai Special NDPS Court on Tuesday, the NCB has detailed how between March-December 2020, Rhea, her brother Showik and 34 others accused in the death case of the late Sushant Singh Rajput, were part of a plot to finance, procure, sell, transport and distribute drugs like Ganja, Charas, Cocaine, LSD to the high-profile end-users.
As part of the plot, from January-August 2020, Siddharth Pithani -- a friend of Rajput, found dead in his rented Bandra home on June 14, 2020 -- was in regular touch with the actor (Rajput) and his girlfriend Rhea, her brother Showik, domestic aides like Samuel Miranda, Dipesh Sawant and others to procure Ganja, as per the NCB draft charges.
The probe agency revealed how Pithani had used a private bank app of Rajput to source Ganja and other drugs from his bank account, describing them as 'puja samagri' (prayer materials) and accordingly abetted Rajput's extreme addiction to drugs.
The NCB contended that the actress' brother Showik Chakraborty was also allegedly linked with drug peddlers from whom he received packets on behalf of Rajput.
While Rhea was arrested in September 2020 and released on bail after almost a month in October 2020, Pithani was nabbed in May 2021 and released on bail last week, as part of the NCB's avowed probe to uproot what it termed athe drugs citadel Mumbai, especially in Bollywood'.
After hearing the arguments from both sides in the case, the Special NDPS Judge V.G. Raghuvanshi will decide on which of the 38 charges shall be framed against the 35 accused.
The unverifiable reports, attributed to unidentified NCB sources, claimed that Aryan Khan was purportedly 'full of guilt and remorse' over his recent actions leading to his arrest and custody since the past 17 days.
It was last year, when Rhea made headlines after she was accused by Sushant's family for abetment to suicide and also siphoning off funds from the late actor. She was also named in a Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) chargesheet along with her brother Showik in a drug-related probe into Sushant's death case.
In a huge setback to Aryan Khan, a Mumbai special NDPS court on Thursday reserved its order on his and other co-accused's bail applications till October 20, even as the NCB virtually labelled him a 'junkie' regularly consuming drugs.
Produced by Ronnie Screwvala, Neha Anand and Pranjal Khandhdiya, written by Nanda Periyasamy, Aniruddha Guha and Kanika Dhillon and directed by Akarsh Khurana, 'Rashmi Rocket' also stars Supriya Pathak, Abhishek Banerjee, Priyanshu Painyuli and Supriya Pilgaonkar.
The agency also accused Aryan Khan of being in touch with some persons abroad who could be part of an international illegal drug syndicate and it is continuing further investigations to unearth his links to contact the foreign agency through proper channels.
At the hearing today, Khan's lawyer Amit Desai sought the bail plea to be heard on Tuesday (October 12), but the NCB's Special Public Prosecutor A.M. Chimalker asked for Thursday (October 14), after which the Special Court posted the matter for Wednesday.
