Case probed by ‘overzealous’ officer, says SSR case accused

Kshitij Prasad, one of the accused in the drugs case related to late actor Sushant Singh Rajput has sought a clean chit in the case and said in his plea that the probe in the case was carried out by an ‘overzealous’ officer with the intention to gain media attention.

Prasad is an executive producer and was an employee at Dharma Productions. His plea through advocate Satish Maneshinde stated that he is innocent and the allegations against him baseless. The application referred to the drugs case related to Aryan Khan, in which Khan is now exonerated for lack of sufficient evidence. Without naming Sameer Wankhede, who was the Narcotics Control Bureau's (NCB) zonal director at the time, the plea read, “It is important to note that the investigation in both the cases was carried out by an overzealous and over-ambitious officer. The said officer had an intention to gain media attention by destabilising and invoking fear in the Bollywood Industry.”

It further alleged that the officer wanted Prasad to falsely name certain film directors, producers, actors and actresses as consumers or suppliers of drugs and that the case was filed against him when he refused to adhere to the officer’s request. “Various prominent actors and actresses were made to visit the respondents (NCB) and give their statements. The outcome of such investigation has still not been produced before this Hon’ble Court,” the plea stated.

It said further that despite various actors and actresses having allegations of consumption of drugs against them, they were not even made accused. “The said officer is currently being investigated for shoddy investigation in the case involving Aryan Khan. It is, therefore, the prayer of the applicant, that in the present case as well, a Special Investigation Team be formed, and the whole case be re-investigated,” the application stated.

The NCB claims Prasad’s name was taken by an accused in the case - Ankush Arneja, who told the agency that Prasad deals in drugs. On conducting a search of his house, a joint roll containing smoked ganja was recovered, it alleges. It has also cited some incriminating whatsapp chats as evidence against Prasad.