Why Rhea Chakraborty's bail plea was rejected by Mumbai Court

A special court, on September 11, rejected the bail pleas of Rhea Chakraborty and her brother Showik, arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in connection with a drugs-related case pertaining to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

The court also rejected the bail pleas of four other accused in the case. All the accused are currently in judicial custody.

The NCB has linked Chakraborty to offences related to the "trade, sale, purchase and use of the banned substances".

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In her bail plea, Rhea claimed that she had been falsely implicated in the case. On its part, the NCB said while opposing the bail plea that Rhea was conscious of the fact that Rajput had been consuming drugs. But, despite that she continued procuring and making payments for drugs, it said.

No drugs were recovered from Rhea or Showik, but about 59 grams of cannabis was reportedly recovered from three alleged "drug peddlers" arrested earlier.

The NCB has added Section 27A to its First Information Report (FIR), according to an India Today report, which is punishment for financing illicit traffic and harboring offenders. This is punishable with rigorous imprisonment "for a term which shall not be less than ten years but which may extend to twenty years".

This, according to experts, is what made it difficult for the accused to be granted bail as, according to the report, Section 37 of NDPS warrants that a bail for a person accused under Section 27A cannot be granted until the Public Prosecutor has been given the opportunity to oppose application for such release.

The NCB has also said that although the quantity of banned drugs seized in the case was small, it was still a commercial quantity and worth Rs 1,85,200.