The Supreme Court was amused on Thursday by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) not seeking the cancellation of the bail granted to actor Rhea Chakraborty in an appeal filed five months after the Bombay High Court gave her relief in the drug-related charges.
Rhea is a friend of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput (34), who was found dead in his Bandra flat on June 14, 2020. A bench of Chief Justice of India Sharad Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian were hearing the matter. It allowed the NCB to amend its petition for hearing the next week.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court, "We know you will not interfere in the grant of bail, but my worry is the Bombay High Court has made wide ranging interpretations of the NDPS Act, which will make the Act meaningless unless challenged." CJI Bobde shot back, "We do interfere in bail. But you can come here only if you challenge the bail order and not the findings of the High Court in a bail order."
He allowed Mehta's prayer to amend the appeal, permitting two weeks to NCB to file the revised appeal. The next hearing is slated on April 5.
Chakraborty and others, including her brother Showik Chakraborty, Abdel Basit Parihar, Samuel Miranda and Dipesh Sawant, are accused of having facilitated the procurement of drugs for consumption by late actor Sushant Singh Rajput. They moved the Bombay High Court after their bail pleas were rejected by a special NDPS court in Mumbai.
The High Court had granted bail to Chakraborty, Sawant and Miranda, but rejected those of Abdul Parihar and Showik Chakraborty.