Sushant Singh Rajput death case: Rhea Chakraborty, her brother among 35 named in NCB’s draft chargesheet
Actor Rhea Chakraborty, the late actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s girlfriend, has been named in the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB)’s draft chargesheet along with her brother Showvik and 33 others in connection with Rajput’s death in 2020. The draft chargesheet further details how the accused were involved in a criminal conspiracy to supply drugs to influential people and within the Bollywood industry.
In the draft charges, the NCB has mentioned the role of the deceased actor’s then flatmate Siddharth Pithani who had “aided and abetted” Rajput to “extreme drug addiction.” The drugs for Rajput were procured in 2020 by Pithani, among other accused, the draft chargesheet states, adding that Pithani had bought the drugs for Rajput’s consumption using the late actor’s bank account, calling it “puja samagri.”
In the draft charges submitted before a special court in Mumbai, the central drug enforcement agency has sought to charge the 35 accused for procurement, manufacture, sale, consumption, possession of psychotropic drug and cannabis under several provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, including Section 8(c) read with 20(b)(ii)(A), 22, 27, 27A, 28, 29 and 30 of the NDPS Act, The Indian Express reported.
Explaining the role of Rhea and her brother Showik in its draft chargesheet, the NCB stated that the duo was involved in buying drugs for Rajput, while Rhea received few packages of marijuana in 2020 for Rajput’s consumption.
The NCB has also named Agisilaos Demetriades, the brother of actor Arjun Rampal’s partner, in the draft charges, while claiming that he had bought cocaine from a Nigerian and marijuana from two co-accused on many occasions “and circulated it in high society and Bollywood”. However, the NCB doesn’t mention where the drugs were supplied.
The filing of the draft charges sets the stage for the formal framing of charges in the sensational case that had taken Bollywood by storm. However, it is only the filing of a formal chargesheet that will kick-start trial in the case. The court will also need to decide on the discharge pleas filed by the accused in the case