NCB opposes bail pleas of Rhea and her brother

MUMBAI: ‘Strongly opposing’ actor Rhea Chakraborty’s bail plea, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has claimed that she was clearly involved in financing activities related to illicit trafficking of drugs and this is supported by the voluntary statements made by her and other accused, WhatsApp chat records, call detail records and information recovered from laptops and tablets.

“The applicant (Rhea) was having conscious knowledge about drug consumption by Sushant Singh Rajput and she made herself part of this offence by procuring drugs. She has used her credit card and payment getaways to facilitate the financial transactions related to dealing of illicit drug trafficking,” the NCB said before a special NDPS court on Thursday. The court is likely to pronounce its order on Friday.

Special public prosecutor Atul Sarpande refuted Rhea’s claims that she was coerced into making self-incriminating confessions, which she has now formally retracted. “The confession was taken legally and is admissible. Retraction is routine process based on legal advice,” the prosecution said. Sarpande also cited similar grounds to oppose the bail plea of Rhea’s brother Showik Chakraborty.
The prosecution said that, in a voluntary statement, Rhea had confessed that she was staying with Rajput since April 2019 and was procuring drugs for him through Showik and his associates Basit Parihar, Kaizan Ebrahim and Zaid Vilatra. While Rhea was arrested on Tuesday, Showik was arrested last week.

The prosecution said that “financing illicit traffic and harbouring offenders” was a non-bailable offence under Section 27A of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. Sarpande added that contrary to claims made in Rhea’s bail plea, women officers were present during her interrogation.