Mumbai: A Special Court in Mumbai today rejected the bail requests of Rhea Chakraborty & her brother Showik Chakraborty who has been in the thick of news in the Sushant Singh Rajput death case – and other accused persons, who were arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in connection with a drugs possession and dealing case.
Special judge G. B. Gurao heard the arguments made by Rhea’s lawyers Satish Maneshinde and Special Public Prosecutor Atul Sarpande.
The applicant has been arrested for an offence punishable under Sections 8(c) read with 20(b)(ii),22,27A,28,29 and 30 of the NDPS Act, 1985.
Today, is Riya’s third day in jail. The first day the court ruled that Riya spent her night in an NCB lockup. The next day Riya was shifted to Byculla jail. Near Riya’s cell is the cell of Indrani Mukherjee, accused in the Sheena Bora murder case.
NCB inquiries had revealed that Riya and her brother had links with many drug peddlers. Riya and Showik are accused of buying and selling drugs. Riya clearly said that she used to buy drugs for Sushant. At the same time, his brother Showik revealed that at the behest of Riya, he too used to buy these drugs for Sushant.
In her bail request, Rhea Chakraborty had retracted her confession and said she was “coerced into making self-incriminatory confessions”. She said she had “not committed any crime whatsoever and had been falsely implicated in the case”. She had also claimed rape and death threats and “a severe toll on her mental health and well-being” because of multiple investigations.
However, the Narcotics Control Bureau argued that if released on bail, the actor
“may tamper with the evidence and also try to win over witnesses using her position in the society and money power.”
Rhea Chakraborty had conscious knowledge of drugs use by her boyfriend Sushant Singh Rajput, said the agency, and had “made herself part of this offence by procuring drugs” for him.
The anti-drugs bureau said Rhea Chakraborty used her credit card and payment gateways to facilitate financial transactions related to dealing of “illicit drug trafficking”. It also insisted her confession was “voluntary”, not coerced, and admissible in the court of law.
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The anti-drugs agency said the drugs financed (by Rhea Chakraborty) were not meant for personal consumption but for supplying them to another person.
“Therefore, Section 27A of NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act) is applicable and she cannot escape the clutches of law.”
Rhea Chakraborty will stay in Byculla jail, where she was taken after a magistrate sent her to judicial custody till September 22. Her lawyer will now approach the Bombay High Court for bail.
-India Legal Bureau