The court allowed the NCB investigating officer S N Prasad to visit the jail to record the statement of the two in the presence of jail authorities. (File)The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Thursday began recording the statements of actor Rhea Chakraborty’s brother Showik and Dipesh Sawant, who was actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s cook, at the Taloja Central Jail in Navi Mumbai in connection with a “few high-profile personalities” whose names have come up during the agency’s probe into a drugs case.
The NCB, in an application filed before the special court designated under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, on Thursday sought permission to visit Sawant and Showik in jail, where they are lodged after their arrest in the case.
The court allowed the NCB investigating officer S N Prasad to visit the jail to record the statement of the two in the presence of jail authorities.
In regard to the case, lodged in connection to Sushant’s death probe, the NCB had told a local court that it wanted to “uproot the drug citadel in Bollywood”. So far, 19 people have been arrested, including Rhea and Showik.
In the plea filed before the special court through Special Public Prosecutor Atul Sarpande, the NCB had claimed that when Showik was being interrogated earlier, he had disclosed a few names in relation with drug trafficking.
“The mobile data, which was received by the applicant, discloses his deep involvement in dealing of drugs and call details reveal that he had long chats/conversations with few high-profile personalities. This aspect needs to be investigated further to ascertain the depth of his involvement in the crime,” the plea added.
While Showik was arrested on September 4, Sawant was arrested the next day. Both were in NCB custody till September 9 and are currently in judicial custody till October 6. After his bail application was rejected by the special court on September 11, Showik, through his lawyer Satish Maneshinde, had approached the Bombay High Court.
According to NCB, Showik had confessed that he used to “facilitate” the delivery of drugs arranged through peddler Abdel Parihar, who arranged the same from other peddlers like Kaizan Ebrahim and Zaid Vilatra. These deliveries used to be received by Sawant and Rhea.
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