Bail plea hearing of Rhea, her brother due today in Bombay HC

The bail application of Rhea Chakraborty and her brother Showik, who have been in jail for nearly three weeks on drugs-related charges linked to the Sushant Singh Rajput investigation, will be heard by the Bombay High Court on Tuesday (September 29).

Five more accused, including SSR’s employees, are also seeking bail.

Rhea Chakraborty, who dated the late movie star, was arrested on September 9 on charges of organizing drugs for him.

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On Monday, the Narcotics Control Bureau submitted a statement opposing bail for Rhea and her brother, saying they bought drugs not for their own use but to supply them to SSR, which is “a more serious offence” related to the funding of drugs.

“Under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, this is the most serious crime,” NCB officer Sameer Wankhede said in his written submission.

Rhea also allegedly used her home to buy and store drugs for Sushant Singh Rajput, said the officer, saying she was guilty of “harbouring drugs”.

The agency has also claimed electronic evidence such as WhatsApp chats to prove that Rhea was involved in illegal funding of drugs. On September 9, the bureau had described the 28-year-old actor as an “active member of a drug syndicate”.

In the previous bail hearing last week, Rhea had challenged the NCB’s jurisdiction, saying the CBI should take over since it was mandated by the Supreme Court to probe all aspects of the case.

In response, the anti-drugs agency has said that it has the right to investigate the drug case.

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Rhea’s bail plea alleges a witch-hunt by the NCB at the instance of three Central agencies. She also alleges that the late actor “took advantage of those closest to him to sustain his drug habit” and that he “was the only consumer of drugs” and that he was directing his employees to procure his drugs”.

Rhea also revealed that while she was being interrogated by the NCB, not a single female officer was present, as required by law. Rhea said that the NCB had summoned her for interrogation on September 6, 7 and 8, when she was “interrogated for a minimum of 8 hours at a stretch by multiple male officers”.