MUMBAI: Bollywood actor Rhea Chakraborty bought, received and delivered ganja to her boyfriend and actor Sushant Singh Rajput, who died in June 2020, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has found.
The NCB had filed the draft charges last month in the Special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) Court against 35 accused, including Rhea and her brother.
On the morning of June 14, 2020, Sushant, 34, was found hanging at his rented duplex flat in a posh building in Mumbai’s Bandra, triggering a massive furore in Bollywood and political circles.
In August 2020, the NCB Mumbai registered two cases related to the drugs angle which emerged in the investigations into Sushant’s death.
Moving swiftly, the NCB arrested Showik, Rhea and several other persons on September 7 and 8, 2020, creating an upheaval in Bollywood circles. She was eventually released from the Byculla Jail after 28 days following bail granted by the Bombay High Court.
According to top sources of the drug-law enforcement agency, Rhea was part of the group which received and delivered drugs to Rajput and also made payments for the same.
The NCB source related to the probe told The New Indian, “Chakraborty used to buy and deliver ganja to Rajput.”
He said that even his brother Showik was also part of the drug, who also procured and delivered ganja along with the several accused named in the case.
The source said that the charges have been made against the actor and her brother “on the basis of the evidence” found during the probe.
Rhea was arrested on September 8, 2020, by the NCB after three days of questioning in connection with the case, which the agency registered at the request of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after the drug angle was found.
She was arrested by the NCB under the stringent Section 27-A of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act which pertains to “financing and harbouring illegal drug trafficking”. It entails imprisonment of up to 10 years in prison and a bar on the grant of bail.
Besides NCB, she is also being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation and ED in connection with the death of Rajput.