Rebecca Samervel (THE TIMES OF INDIA; September 15, 2020)

Mumbai: If Rhea Chakraborty and her brother Showik are released on bail, they may alert those involved in the drug case and there is possibility of tampering the evidence, said the special NDPS court, in its order rejecting their pleas. The siblings are among those arrested in the drug case linked to actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death.

On Friday, special judge G B Gurao had rejected the bail pleas of Rhea (28), Showik (23), Rajput’s house manager Samuel Miranda, Rajput’s cook Deepesh Sawant, and alleged drug peddlers Basit Parihar and Zaid Vilatra. Special public prosecutor Atul Sarpande had opposed their pleas. The order copies were made available on Monday.

The judge said the records show Rhea and Rajput were in a live-in relationship. The court said the NCB had alleged that she procured drugs for Rajput by financing them, and had asked Showik to arrange for them. “The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had recovered WhatsApp chats and other electronic evidence. Some amount is also transferred via her credit card. Also there is recovery of commercial quantity of LSD from accused Anuj Keshwani. The probe is at a preliminary stage, therefore..it cannot be said that there are no reasonable grounds to connect the accused.”

Seeking bail for the siblings, their lawyer Satish Maneshinde had said that both had retracted their self-incriminating confessional statements as they were coerced into giving them. But the court said that “we are... not conducting a mini trial and therefore...what is the record before the court is to be seen”. It added that at this stage, it cannot be said that Rhea’s statement was forcibly recorded.

The duo has also been accused of “illicit trafficking and harbouring of offenders” under Section 27A of the NDPS Act. Maneshinde had submitted that the NCB had not quantified the drugs and the claims, at best, would pertain to small quantities and the offence, if any, was bailable. He said if the entire evidence is seen, according to the prosecution, only Rs 12,000 had been spent by Rhea through credit cards for drugs. He said that merely, sale and purchase of drugs does not amount to illicit traffic. But the court said for an offence to be proved under Section 27A no particular quantity of the drug is required. It referred to the 0.6gm LSD allegedly recovered from Keshwani.

The order said under Section 37, no person accused under 27A or for offences involving commercial quantity can be given bail unless the court is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to believe he’s not guilty and that he is unlikely to commit offence while out on bail.

The court also accepted the prosecution’s submission that during interrogation, Rhea was accompanied by a woman cop.