S Ahmed Ali & Rebecca Samervel | TNN (THE TIMES OF INDIA; September 8, 2020)

Mumbai: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), probing a drug angle in the Sushant Singh Rajput case, has summoned Rhea Chakraborty to appear again before the agency on Tuesday. Sources said Rhea is likely to undergo intense questioning for a third day in succession regarding alleged procurement of narcotics believed to have been consumed by Sushant Singh Rajput and her brother Showik.

Rhea appeared before the federal drug enforcement agency at Ballard Pier in south Mumbai at 9.30 am on Monday. She was allowed to go home only after 8 hours of grilling. As per Supreme Court orders, no woman can be questioned/arrested after sundown or before sunrise without special permission from a magistrate.

Sources said Rhea’s alleged role in procuring drugs is the matter under probe. Since the NCB is not satisfied with her answers, they have summoned her again on Tuesday.

Rajput’s domestic staff Samuel Miranda and his cook Deepesh Sawant have allegedly said that Showik organised weed (marijuana) for Rajput for nearly seven months.

“On Monday, Rhea was confronted with statements made by her brother Showik in his presence. Also, Samuel Miranda, Deepesh Sawant, drug peddlers Basit Parihar, Zaid Vilatra and Kaizan Ibrahim. Our interrogations are not over and there are many more things which need to be answered,” said an officer.

NCB also produced another dealer held in the case, Anuj Keshwani, before a magistrate through video conferencing on Monday. He was remanded to custody till September 9. A huge cache of narcotic substances including hashish, marijuana and LSD sheets were recovered from him.

Keshwani was the eighth to be arrested since NCB started the probe last month. Sources said Keshwani is a big-time supplier associated with Bollywood and social parties.

The drug probe began when the Enforcement Directorate, which was probing a money laundering angle, allegedly found chat messages pertaining to drugs on Rhea’s mobile. The ED passed on the details to NCB. Officials said her Whatsapp chats point to conspiracy and abetment.

Meanwhile, in a hearing before the sessions court, the NCB opposed the bail pleas of Vilatra and Parihar and claimed that apart from the initial recovery of 60 gms of marijuana, a variety of drugs had been seized from Keshwani, qualifying the total recovery as “commercial quantity”.

NCB said it had recovered 0.62 grams of LSD. It said that while 0.01 grams of LSD qualified as commercial quantity under the NDPS Act, the recovered amount is much more than that.