A Mumbai court on Tuesday extended the judicial custody of actress Rhea Chakraborty and her brother Showik Chakraborty till October 20. The duo was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in connection with a drugs probe related to actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death case last month.
A special NDPS court on Tuesday extended the judicial custody of the actress, her brother and other accused arrested by the NCB till October 20, special public prosecutor Atul Sarpande said. The special court had earlier rejected the bail pleas of the actress and her brother.
They then moved the Bombay High Court to seek bail. The High Court has reserved its order on their pleas and is expected to pronounce the judgment on Wednesday.
The NCB began its investigation after the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which was probing money laundering charges linked to the case, shared some social media chats retrieved from Rhea Chakraborty's mobile phone, hinting at the alleged use of banned drugs.
Rajput (34) was found dead in his residence in suburban Bandra on June 14. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is separately probing a case against Rhea Chakraborty and others for allegedly abetting the actor's suicide.
Meanwhile, Sushant Singh Rajput’s sisters Priyanka Singh and Meetu Singh on Tuesday moved the Bombay High Court, seeking to quash the FIR registered against them by Mumbai Police for forgery and procuring fake medical prescription for their late brother. The Bandra police lodged the FIR against the duo on September 7, based on a complaint filed by Rajputs girlfriend and actress Rhea Chakraborty, who is currently in jail in connection with a drugs case related to the actor's death.
A division bench of Justices S S Shinde and M S Karnik took up the plea on Tuesday and then posted it for hearing on October 13, saying there was no urgency.
In her complaint, Chakraborty accused Rajput's sisters and Dr Tarun Kumar of the Delhi-based Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital of forging a prescription of medicines supposedly for anxiety that were prohibited under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985. As per the complaint, the medicines were for Rajput.
In the petition, Rajput's sisters claimed the FIR was filed based just on media reports and that the complaint was fraught with material irregularities and discrepancies.
They also said there was an inordinate delay of 90 days in lodging the complaint the medicines were prescribed on June 8, the day Rajput asked Chakraborty to leave his house, and the complaint was lodged on September 7.
The petition by way of interim relief has sought a direction to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), to whom the FIR against petitioners has been handed over by police, from taking any coercive steps against them.