The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) accused Bollywood actor Rhea Chakraborty, Siddharth Pithani along with two others of abetting late actor Sushant Singh Rajput's "extreme drug addiction". The apex drug control bureau's draft charges against 35 accused come two years after the Kai Po Che actor was found dead in his Mumbai apartment in June 2020.
The NCB filed its draft charges under provisions of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985 in the drugs case that rose out of the probe in Rajput's death. The NCB said that the 35 accused conspired to procure and distribute drugs in high society and those in Bollywood circles. The draft charges were filed two months after it submitted its two-part, 11,700 pages-long chargesheet in May.
Those accused include Rhea (Rajput's girlfriend), her brother Showik, Rajput's roommate Pithani and Bollywood producer Kshitij Prasad among others.
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Pithani procured drugs, Rhea paid for deliveries for Rajput to consume: NCB
According to the draft charges filed by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), the drugs consumed by Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput were procured for him by his roommate Siddharth Pithani which were paid for by Rhea Chakraborty and her brother Showik.
Pithani was also in touch with several others to procure drugs for Rajput and even paid the same using the late actor's bank account, thus aiding and abetting his extreme drug addiction, the draft charges said.
Showik Chakraborty, Rhea's brother and roommate, placed orders, collected and made payments for the drugs which were used by Rajput, NCB added.
Peddlers have been accused of procuring cocaine, ganja and other illegal substances for Bollywood producer Kshitij Prasad, the NCB alleged.
The NCB charged Rhea for abetting Rajput's addiction even as the Bombay High Court while granting her bail in October 2020 observed that she was not "part of the chain of drug dealers" nor did she forward "the drugs allegedly procured by her to somebody else to earn monetary or other benefits."
The high court had disagreed with the NCB's contention that giving money to another for consuming drugs would mean encouraging such habit and would mean "financing" or "harbouring" as envisaged under provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.
"If some other person like a friend or a relative pays money for such consumption, then the person who actually consumes the drug can be punished only up to one year or can get immunity...but the individual who gives money for purchasing that drug faces the prospect of spending twenty years in jail…This is highly disproportionate and would be extremely unreasonable," the high court had observed.
Rhea's brother Showik got bail two months later in December 2020 while Rajput's roommate Pithani was granted bail on July 4 this year, a fortnight ago.
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