The Centre on Monday moved the Supreme Court against actor Rhea Chakraborty’s bail order in the drugs case related to Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, reported Live Law. The Narcotics Control Bureau, which is investigating claims of widespread drug use and trafficking in Bollywood, challenged Chakraborty’s bail 10 days after it filed a chargesheet naming her and 31 others.
Chakraborty was arrested in September in the drugs case, and was granted bail on October 7 after a court observed that she was not part of any drug syndicate and had no criminal record.
The Centre’s petition against the bail may be listed for hearing on March 18 before a bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde, and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, according to Bar and Bench.
The case
Rajput was found dead in his apartment in Bandra on June 14, in what the Mumbai Police said was a case of suicide. On October 3, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences panel, which was in-charge of examining his autopsy reports, had ruled out that the actor was murdered and confirmed he died by suicide.
Three central agencies – the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Enforcement Directorate, the NCB – began investigating cases against Chakraborty, who was Rajput’s partner. The NCB started investigating the drug angle in Rajput’s death in June. A formal case was registered by the agency on August 26.
On October 7, the Bombay High Court had granted bail to Chakraborty with the conditions of the bail bond, appearance in every 10 days at the nearest police station. She had to submit her passport with the NCB, and the court further directed her to inform the investigating officer if she goes outside of Greater Mumbai. She was also asked not to contact other witnesses in the case.
During the bail hearing, the court also said that she could not have financed or supported illegal drug trafficking as alleged by the narcotics agency. She was asked to furnish a bail bond of Rs 1 lakh, and the court restricted her from leaving the country without permission.
On March 5, the NCB filed a nearly 12,000-page chargesheet, naming Chakraborty, her brother Showik Chakraborty and 31 others. It also included the statements of more than 200 witnesses. The actor’s brother Showik Chakraborty, a co-accused in the drugs case, also got bail in December.
Several high-profile actors, including Deepika Padukone, Shraddha Kapoor and Sara Ali Khan, were questioned in the drugs case.
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