Days after the arrest of her brother Showik, actor Rhea Chakraborty was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in connection to the drugs probe in the Sushant Singh Rajput death case. She was first served summons on Sunday morning by the NCB and asked to accompany them to their office in Colaba, Mumbai, but she chose to arrive by herself with police protection.
There are two FIRs against Rhea, and she has been booked under sections of the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. Under one, she has been booked under sections 20(b)/22/27/28/29 of the Act. In the second FIR, she has been booked under sections 8(c), 20 (b) (ii), 27(a), 28 and 29. The charges include contravention in relation to cannabis plant and cannabis.
She appeared before NCB on Monday and Tuesday too. After many hours of questioning, the NCB finally arrested her on Tuesday.
The NCB began probing a drugs angle into the death case after it received communication from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that there were WhatsApp chats related to drug consumption, procurement, usage and transportation on Rhea's phone. She allegedly speaks about procuring drugs with Sushant Singh Rajput's house manager Samuel Miranda and this became the base for the current line of investigation. Both Samuel and Sushant’s domestic help Dipesh Sawant have also been arrested in connection with the drugs probe.
Rhea became the main accused in the death of 34-year-old Sushant after his father lodged a complaint on July 25 alleging that she abeted his suicide. He alleged that Rhea was stealing his son's money, responsible for an overdose in his medication and threatened to make his mental health issues public. He further alleged that she distanced him from his family. Sushant's family has denied that the actor had any mental health issues despite his therapist publicly confirming the same. Rhea who has been victim to immense trolling, a target of vilification for TV channels and public insults, appealed to Home Minister Amit Shah for a fair investigation into the death.
She has gone to the Supreme Court over what she considers an unfair media trial and has denied all allegations against her.
Rhea and Showik's father Lt Col Indrajit Chakraborty (retired) made a scathing statement after the arrest of his son Showik and pointed out that his daughter will be next.
"Congratulations India, you have arrested my son, I'm sure next on the line is my daughter and I don't know who is next thereafter. You have effectively demolished a middle class family. But of course, for the sake of justice everything is justified. Jai hind," he said.