The Bombay High Court has granted bail to actress Rhea Chakraborty but rejected the bail plea of her brother Showik in connection with a drug case related to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. A single-judge bench of Justice Sarang Kotwal also rejected the bail pleas of alleged drug peddler Abdul Basit Parihar and granted bail to Rhea's associate Samuel Miranda and Rajput's personal staff Dipesh Sawant. They were all arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in the case.
The bench granted bail to Rhea on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 100,000. "Rhea should mark her presence for 10 days in the police station after release, deposit her passport, not travel abroad without court permission and inform the investigating officer if she has to leave Greater Mumbai," the bench said.
Notably, a special (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) court in Mumbai had extended till October 20 the judicial custody of Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik and others. The NCB had launched an investigation after it received official communication from Enforcement Directorate (ED), in which there were various chats related to drug consumption, procurement, usage and transportation in connection with Rajput's death case.
The ED had on July 31 registered an Enforcement Case Information Report in the late actor's death case after a First Information Report was filed by Rajput's father KK Singh against Rhea Chakraborty in Bihar on July 28. Rajput was found dead at his Mumbai residence on June 14.
The family was also displeased with Mumbai Police's probe; after a concerted online and offline campaign, the Supreme Court handed over the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Rhea, who was in a relationship with the deceased actor, was accused of procuring banned substances like marijuana and being in touch with drug peddlers. NCB also summoned Bollywood biggies like Deepika Padukone, Shraddha Kapoor, and Sara Khan. Last month, Rhea had filed a bail plea, solely blaming Sushant for exploiting people close to him to sustain his drug habit.
She claimed Sushant was careful enough not to leave a paper trail and "thought it fit to expose" people close to him to the perils that his actions would entail. The 29-year-old celebrity also slammed the "witch-hunt" she was subjected to.
"The prosecution surprisingly has not disclosed a single phone call, mobile call, SMS, WhatsApp message or email of Sushant as to how he procured his drugs for his own consumption, rather than blaming his entire staff, Rhea, and Showik," the plea read. Meanwhile, the case, which dominated headlines for months, came at a new juncture last week when an AIIMS panel declared that Sushant wasn't murdered, but died by suicide.
Led by Dr. Sudhir Gupta, the team was tasked with a re-examination of the autopsy, other medical reports, and the crime scene. Dr. Gupta said the seven-member team arrived at the conclusion after assessing all angles. Moreover, CBI, which is probing the "abetment of suicide" angle, has not found conclusive evidence to suggest that Rhea drove the actor to suicide for "financial gains."
A forensic audit of Sushant's accounts revealed that of £7 million in transactions, an expenditure of Rs 55,00,000 was linked to Rhea. Sushant's father had earlier claimed Rhea cheated him of £1.5 million. "Rhea continues to be under scanner for abetment to suicide. But it is true CBI hasn't yet found any motive for abetment. There is nothing concrete in the audit report to suggest that she siphoned off funds," an official said.
