Sushant Singh Rajput's death case: Rhea Chakraborty moves court again to seek bail

Mumbai, Sep 9: Actress Rhea Chakraborty, arrested by the NCB in a drugs case linked to her boyfriend and actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death, on Wednesday moved a bail plea before a sessions court in Mumbai. This is her second attempt to seek release after a magistrate court on Tuesday refused to grant her bail.

In the fresh plea, filed by her lawyer Satish Maneshinde, the 28-year-old actress claimed to be "innocent". "She has not committed any crime whatsoever and has been falsely implicated in the case," said the plea. The court will hear the bail application on Thursday.

Chakraborty was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Tuesday after three days of questioning by the agency. Shortly after her arrest, she was sent in judicial custody till September 22 by a local court. On Wednesday, she was shifted from the anti-drug agency's office in south Mumbai to the Byculla jail here.

Meanwhile the other accused arrested by the NCB, including the actress's brother Showik Chakraborty, Rajput's house manager Samuel Miranda, his personal staff member Dipesh Sawant, and suspected drug peddlers Zaid Vilatra and Abdel Basit Parihar, were sent in 14-day judicial custody by the sessions court, special public prosecutor Atul Sarpande said. Showik Chakraborty and Sawant have applied for bail and their pleas will also be heard on Thursday, he said.

The NCB on Tuesday said it did not want Rhea Chakraborty's custody as it had already questioned her for three days. After producing her before the additional chief judicial magistrate through video link on Tuesday, the NCB told the court that she was confronted with all other accused, including Showik Chakraborty, during her interrogation and facts in their statements were verified.

The agency claimed that the actress disclosed her involvement in procurement of drugs for Rajput and related financial transactions and also her instructions to co-accused Miranda, Sawant and Showik Chakraborty.

"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 sections of the NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act invoked against her include 8(c) (sale, possession or manufacture of banned drugs) and 20 (b)(ii) (possession or use of small quantity of banned drugs), as per her lawyers. Rajput (34) was found hanging in his flat in suburban Bandra on June 14.

Various angles surrounding his death are being probed by the NCB, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The NCB is probing the drug angle in the case under criminal sections of the NDPS Act, after the ED shared with it a report following the cloning of two mobile phones of Rhea Chakraborty. The actress was recently interrogated by a CBI probe team her as she is the main accused in the abetment of suicide case filed by Rajput's father, and also questioned by the ED in a money laundering case. She has denied all the allegations.