Actor Rhea Chakraborty’s father Indrajit Chakraborty on Saturday criticised the arrest of his son Showik Chakraborty in connection with drug abuse allegations surrounding actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death.
“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,” Indrajit Chakraborty said in a statement, NDTV reported. “You have effectively demolished a middle class family. But of course, for the sake of justice everything is justified. Jai hind.” The retired military doctor has also been questioned in the case.
A court in Mumbai on Saturday sent Showik Chakraborty and Rajput’s former house manager Samuel Miranda to the Narcotics Control Bureau’s custody till September 9. They were arrested on Friday night after the agency had searched their homes. The narcotics bureau said it would now summon Rhea Chakraborty for questioning on Sunday and ask her to join the investigation.
The NCB has so far not found any drugs in the 24-year-old Showik Chakraborty’s possession, according to NDTV. Its case is based on 59 grams of curated marijuana that was seized from two men – Abbas Lakhani and Karan Arora – were allegedly linked to people close to Rajput. While seeking Showik Chakraborty’s custody, the NCB had said that he had “given so many names with whom he was dealing in drugs”.
The narcotics bureau is usually involved in cases that involve several kilos of drugs and not small amounts. It admitted that arrests involving such small amounts of marijuana were not common, according to the television channel. “Narcotics Control Bureau is the uppermost agency for enforcement of anti-drug laws. We look at international connections and intra-state connections,” Mutha Ashok Jain, the Deputy Director General of NCB, said. “Normally this is not part of our mandate but now that we are getting information we cannot shirk our responsibility.”
The bureau, meanwhile, arrested Rajput’s cook Dipesh Sawant in connection with this investigation on Saturday. So far, eight people, including alleged drug dealers Zaid Vilatra and Abdel Basit Parihar, have been arrested in the case.
The Narcotics Control Bureau had said on Wednesday that Parihar knew Miranda, who is accused of procuring drugs on the instructions of Showik Chakraborty. Rhea Chakraborty, meanwhile, has been accused by Rajput’s family of siphoning off his money and drugging him.
The Narcotics Control Bureau is the latest agency to be drawn into the case involving the death of the 34-year-old actor, which is already being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate. The CBI is looking into the case registered on a complaint from Rajput’s father KK Singh, alleging abetment to suicide, criminal conspiracy, cheating, theft, wrongful restraint and confinement. Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate is investigating the money laundering angle.
Rajput was found dead in his apartment in Mumbai on June 14, in what the Mumbai Police said was a case of suicide.
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