V Narayan & Rebecca Samervel | TNN (THE TIMES OF INDIA; September 8, 2020)

Mumbai:  Actor Rhea Chakraborty on Sunday submitted a written application at Bandra police station seeking a probe into Sushant Singh Rajput’s sister Priyanka Singh and a doctor attached to a Delhi government hospital who prescribed the actor anxiety medicines.

Rhea is being investigated in the death of actor Sushant, her boyfriend.

In her application to the police, Rhea alleged that on June 8, six days before his death, she saw him exchanging messages with his sister. She claimed to have advised him against taking any such drug without a doctor’s recommendation. Sushant said he trusted his sister, who texted him the prescription of a doctor attached to a central government hospital in Delhi.

Rhea also stated that the prescription showed Sushant as an OPD patient in Delhi when he was in Mumbai. “This clearly shows that it is a forged one. Also, the doctor is a cardiologist who sought fit to prescribe psychotropic substances to a person he did not know and had never met,’’ her complaint said.

Under the Telemedicine Practice Guidelines of March 2020, these drugs are prohibited from being prescribed electronically, the application said. “These medicines have a high potential of abuse and could harm the patient or the society at large if used improperly,” it added.

Rhea, in her application, said that it should be probed whether Sushant then took these medicines, which may have contributed to his death or further deteriorated his mental health.

Rhea’s lawyer Satish Maneshinde said prescribing drugs listed under the NDPS Act was an offence. “It is also a misconduct under the Telemedicine Practice Guidelines which prohibit prescribing of any Narcotic or Psychotropic Substance listed in the NDPS Act,” he added.

Lawyer Vikas Singh, representing Sushant’s father K K Singh, did not respond to TOI’s calls or text messages on Monday.
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Rhea Chakraborty states doctor prescribed medicines via sister Priyanka Singh without seeing Sushant Singh Rajput
Faizan Khan (MID-DAY; September 8, 2020)

Actress Rhea Chakraborty was grilled for over eight hours by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) for a second consecutive day on Monday. After this, the actress filed a complaint at Bandra police station against Sushant Singh Rajput's sister Priyanka Singh and one Dr Tarun Kumar from Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Delhi, for prescribing the actor medicines on June 8 without seeing him.

The prescription was allegedly for depression-and anxiety-related medicines, given without seeing Sushant. The actor had contacted his sister Priyanka on June 8 and told her that he is feeling low. Priyanka then arranged a prescription of some medicines from Dr. Kumar.

Satish Maneshinde, Rhea's lawyer, said, "Rhea has filed a complaint before the Mumbai police against Priyanka Singh, Dr Tarun Kumar of Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and others for offences of forgery, under NDPS Act and the Telemedicine Practice Guidelines 2020 for sending a bogus medical prescription showing Sushant as an Out Patient Department visitor (at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital) when he was in Mumbai on June 8, for prescribing Schedule Drugs listed under NDPS Act as psychotropic substances."

Saw Sushant last on June 8
In her statement to Bandra police Rhea said, "On the morning of June 8, Sushant had been on phone incessantly and when I enquired what he was doing, he showed me the messages he was exchanging with his sister Priyanka Singh. I was shocked as Priyanka had sent him a list of medications to take."

"I explained to Sushant that given the seriousness of his condition, and the fact that he already had medications prescribed by doctors who had examined and treated him over several months, he ought not to take any other medication, least of all medication being prescribed by his sister who has no medical degree.

"Sushant and I disagreed on this aspect and he insisted that he would only take the medicine his sister was prescribing him. He then asked me to leave the house as his other sister Mitu Singh was coming to live with him and would take care of him. It was thus that I came to leave our residence at Mount Blanc, Bandra, and this was also the last time that I saw him alive."

The statement further reads, "The prescription prepared by them is a fabricated and false document as it reflects Sushant as an OPD patient when on that date and time, he was in Mumbai and not New Delhi."

9th Accused Tests Positive
According to sources, Rhea and Showik were grilled together. The agency is, so far, not satisfied with the actress's clarifications.

The NCB on Monday also arrested a ninth accused, Anuj Keshwani, named by Kaizan Ibrahim as a supplier of contraband. The NCB recovered 590 gm hashish, 0.64 gm LSD sheets, 304 gm marijuana, including imported joints and capsules, R1,85,200 in cash and 5,000 Indonesian Rupiah. Keshwani also tested positive before being taken to court. As a result, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (Esplanade court) ordered that all accused in the case henceforth be produced for remand via video conferencing. He was remanded to five days' custody during a remand hearing later in the day.