NDPS court rejects bail plea of Rhea Chakraborty and five others

Rhea Chakraborty leaves the NCB office earlier this month. File pic

After hearing the bail pleas of six accused, including actress Rhea Chakraborty and her brother Showik, in a drugs case over two days, the NDPS court rejected all of them on Friday. Even Sushant Singh Rajput's house manager Samuel Miranda, domestic help Deepesh Sawant and two Bandra-based drug peddlers Abdel Basit Parihar and Zaid Vilatara had filed bail petitions in the court, all of which have been dismissed.

Sources said that the arguments put forward by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in court might be the reason behind the bail pleas getting cancelled. On Thursday, the NCB argued that Rhea was fully aware of the use of drugs by Sushant and she also used to buy and participate in the process. During the hearing the agency further said that Rhea used her credit card and other means of payment to purchase the illegal drugs.

It further said that she confessed to her crime and hence, it should be valid in court. The NCB stated that the drugs bought by Rhea were not for her personal use but to supply to someone else, so Section 27A of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS Act) applies to her.

Atul Sarpande, special public prosecutor, said in court that it was not necessary to recover something from the accused to prove the charge.

The NCB could prove criminal conspiracy without any recovery. Speaking to mid-day, he said, "In this case we opposed the bail application on the basis of criminal conspiracy and that could be a reason why it was rejected."

The NDPS court has sent Rhea to judicial custody for 14 days. However, she now has the option of filing a petition in the Bombay High Court. As it is still unclear on what grounds Rhea's bail plea has been rejected, her lawyer Satish Manashinde said, "Once we get a copy of the NDPS special court order, we will take a decision on approaching the High Court next week."

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