NCB chargesheet: Rhea’s lawyer says, ‘We will have the last laugh’

A day after the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) filed a chargesheet in the drug case related to death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, Advocate Satish Maneshinde, who is representing prime accused Rhea Chakraborty and her brother Showik, said the NCB’s case is weak and that his clients will “have the last laugh.”

Responding to the 12,000 page chargesheet, Maneshinde said, “All efforts of the NCB were aimed at somehow roping in Rhea Chakraborty. The entire amount of ‘Narcotic Substances’ recovered ‘against 33 Accused’ are nothing compared to what even a constable in Mumbai Police or Narcotics cell or the airport customs or other agencies recover from one raid or trap.”

Also read: Bollywood drugs case: NCB names Rhea, 32 others in chargesheet

Maneshinde targeted NCB for involving Bollywood celebrities like Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan and others without much substance. “The entire NCB from top to bottom was engaged in unearthing drug angle in Bollywood… There’s hardly any material against any known faces who were paraded during the investigations, I wonder why? Either the allegations were false or Only God Knows the Truth. The chargesheet is a damp squib standing on the foundation of Inadmissible Evidence and Statements recorded under section 67 of the NDPS Act even after the Supreme Court Judgment in Toofan Singh Judgement…” he said.

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Rhea Chakraborty, an actor and girlfriend of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput, was arrested by the NCB in connection with the drugs case in September last year. She got a bail in October. First, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) got involved in the Sushant Singh Rajput suicide case and charged Rhea and her family in an alleged money laundering case. The ED claimed to have stumbled upon drug chats from Rhea’s mobile which was passed on to the NCB for investigation.

Maneshinde sounded confident that the NCB’s case against Rhea won’t stand in the court. “Without Rhea Chakraborty being charged this case has no substance… The HC has found no prima facie material at the stage of Bail of alleged ‘Financing” drugs trade. We will have the last laugh,” he said.