Coerced to make self-incriminating confessions, says Rhea

Actor Rhea Chakraborty, arrested over drug charges linked to actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, has alleged in her bail petition she was “coerced” into making self-incriminatory confessions by the NCB, which she now retracts.

Rhea, who is facing probes by various agencies, was arrested on Tuesday after three days of interrogation by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). She was moved to Byculla Jail, the only prison for women in Mumbai, on Wednesday (September 10).

In her bail plea filed in a sessions court on Wednesday, Rhea claimed she has not committed any crime and has been falsely implicated in the case. Her bail application is scheduled to come up for hearing on Thursday.

The bail application was filed by lawyer Satish Maneshinde on behalf of the 28-year-old actor after a magistrate court rejected her bail plea and sent her to judicial custody till September 22.

“During her (NCB) custody, the applicant (Rhea) was coerced into making self-incriminating confessions. The actor has formally retracted all such incriminating confessions,” said the bail plea.

In the plea, she also said that her arrest is “unwarranted and without any justification”. “The actor’s liberty has arbitrarily been curtailed,” it added. The plea also said no female officer was present during her interrogation.

Besides Rhea’s, bail pleas of other accused, including that of her brother Showik, who was arrested last week, will also be heard on Thursday. Besides them, NCB has also arrested Sushant’s house manager Samuel Miranda and others on drug supply charges.

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NCB had earlier said that Rhea, in her statement, revealed her involvement in procurement of drugs and financial transactions, and her instructions to Miranda, Sushant’s cook Dipesh Sawant, and Showik in this regard.

“Therefore, it is clear from her statement that Rhea is an active member of the drug syndicate connected with drug supplies,” the agency said.

The NCB had said that the actress has revealed that she used to procure drugs for Sushant for consumption purposes. She also used to manage finances for drug procurement along with the late actor, it added.

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The NCB is probing the drug angle in this case under criminal sections of the NDPS Act after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) shared with it a report following the cloning of two mobile phones of Rhea.

Various angles surrounding the death of Sushant Singh Rajput are being probed by three federal agencies – the NCB, the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Rajput was found dead at his Bandra flat on June 14.

(With inputs from agencies)