Rhea Chakraborty arrested by NCB in drugs case; her lawyer calls it ‘travesty of justice’

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Tuesday arrested actress Rhea Chakraborty in a drugs case related to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. She is the tenth person to be arrested in the case. Her brother Showik, Rajput’s former cook Dipesh Sawant and former housekeeper Samuel Miranda have already been arrested in the case.

“Rhea has been arrested and the due process of informing the family has been completed,” NCB Deputy Director (Operations) KPS Malthotra said. The NCB said they placed Rhea under arrest based on Whatsapp chats and the statements of the other accused.

Calling her arrest a “travesty of justice”, Rhea’s lawyer Satish Maneshinde said, “Three central agencies hounding a single Woman just because she was in love with a drug addict and was suffering from mental health issues for several years under the care of five leading psychiatrists in Mumbai, who ended up committing suicide due to consumption of illegally administered medicines and used drugs.”

The arrest comes after the central agency questioned Rhea for the past three days. On Monday, Rhea was confronted with her brother, Samuel Miranda and cook Dipesh Sawant.

The NCB said they had come across chats in a Whatsapp group, which included her brother, Sawant and Miranda, where marijuana was discussed. Miranda had earlier said that he produced weed for Sushant Singh Rajput. The NCB, however, did not clarify if Rhea was arrested for consumption or being part of a group involved in the buying and selling of drugs.

Earlier, Rhea had also said that Rajput regularly took marijuana and she had discouraged him from using it due to his ongoing psychiatric treatment. Rhea’s lawyer Maneshinde had said she never consumed drugs and was ready for a blood test.

Following a magistrate court order on Monday, the NCB will seek her custody through video conferencing instead of taking her physically to the court. It is not clear if she will be produced today or tomorrow.

The agency had earlier expressed concern with the media presence that surrounded Chakraborty outside the NCB office while she was entering the building for questioning, following which the court gave permission to seek her remand online.

Rhea’s arrest comes a day after she had approached the Mumbai police with a complaint against Rajput’s sister Priyanka Singh and a doctor for allegedly getting him psychiatric medication without consultation and using forged paperwork. The Mumbai police on Tuesday registered an FIR in the case.

Chakraborty was earlier questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which that are probing the money laundering and abetment to suicide angles respectively surrounding Rajput’s death. Rajput was found hanging in his apartment in suburban Bandra on June 14.