Rhea Chakraborty tells NCB she never consumed drugs: LIVE updates - Movies News
Mateen Hafeez (THE TIMES OF INDIA; September 7, 2020)

Mumbai: Actor Rhea Chakraborty was questioned for six-and-a-half hours on Sunday by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in connection with the drug case linked to her late boyfriend and actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

She will be summoned again on Monday for questioning, said an NCB officer.

In another development, the NDPS court sent Chembur resident Deepesh Sawant (25), Rajput’s house manager who has been arrested in the drug case, to NCB custody till September 9.

On Sunday, the NCB also carried out a raid in Khar and seized banned narcotics. M A Jain, NCB deputy director, told mediapersons that in the raid, they seized 590 gm of hashish, 0.6 gm of LSD sheets, 304 gm of marijuana, including imported joints and capsules, over Rs 1.9 lakh cash and 5,000 Indonesian Rupiah. The seizure came after the NCB questioned Anuj Keshwani.
----
On Sunday, NCB carried out a raid in Khar and seized banned narcotics after questioning Anuj Keshwani. “Keshwani’s name had come up during the interrogation of Kaizan Ibrahim. The quantity of LSD that has been recovered is commercial quantity under the NDPS Act,” said M A Jain, NCB deputy director. NCB sources said that Ebrahim had disclosed that Keshwani was his supplier for the contraband.

When asked about actor Rhea Chakraborty’s questioning in connection with the drug case linked to her late boyfriend, actor Sushant Singh Rajput, and the outcome, Jain did not comment on it.

In the morning, Sameer Wankhede, NCB joint director, and other officers served a summon to Rhea at her Santacruz residence asking her to join the probe. She arrived at 12 pm at the NCB office at Ballard Estate in south Mumbai. Sources said she was quizzed based on the findings from the interrogation of the arrested accused, including her brother Showik, about the supply of drugs and whether she ever consumed it.

The NCB has so far arrested eight people — Abbas Lakhani, Karan Arora, Zaid Vilatra, Basit Parihar, Ebrahim, Samuel Miranda, Showik and Dipesh Sawant, Rajput’s house manager. Sawant, in his ‘voluntary statement’ to NCB, said that on March 17, as per Showik’s instructions, he went with Miranda to receive the delivery of 0.5 gm doob/ganja/cannabis at Bandra from Viltara.

The remand application, signed by intelligence officer K Kiran Babu, filed in the court while seeking Sawant’s custody till September 9, stated: “On April 17, Rhea and her brother Showik ordered him [Sawant] to receive a delivery of 10 gm charas from Kaizan Ibrahim near Mount Blanc building [Rajput’s building]. Through WhatsApp chat on May 1, Showik asked him to receive ganja from one Dwayne and also shared with him his contact number. On May 2, he also received 50 gm charas from Dwayne. In the first week of June, he received 100 gm ganja from a delivery boy of Rishikesh Pawar.” It further read, “Therefore, it is clear from his statement and the electronic evidence gathered by NCB that he is an active member of a drug syndicate connected with high society personalities and drug suppliers.”

Rhea’s lawyer, Satish Maneshinde, issued a statement on her behalf, which said: “Rhea is ready for arrest as this is a witch hunt and if loving someone is a crime, she will face the consequences of her love. Being innocent, she has not approached any court for anticipatory bail in all the cases foisted by Bihar police now with CBI, ED and NCB.” In a related development, CBI questioned Meetu Singh, Rajput’s sister, on Sunday.
--------------------------------
PTI (BOMBAY TIMES; September 7, 2020)

Rhea Chakraborty, who appeared before the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) yesterday for questioning in the drugs case linked to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, has been summoned today as well. The 28-year-old actress, who arrived at the agency’s office in the Ballard Estate area at noon yesterday, was grilled for about six hours.

The agency has said it wants to question Rhea to take the probe forward in the case. A team of the agency had visited her home yesterday morning to serve summons to her for joining the probe, officials said.

Rhea, in interviews given to several TV news channels, has said that she has never consumed drugs herself. She had, however, claimed that the late actor used to consume marijuana. The NCB, over the last two days, has arrested her younger brother Showik Chakraborty (24), Sushant’s former house manager Samuel Miranda (33) and Deepesh Sawant, a member of the actor’s personal staff, in this case.

Various angles surrounding the death of the 34-year-old actor on June 14 are being probed by three federal agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Meanwhile, Sushant’s sister Meetu Singh reached the DRDO guest house on Sunday afternoon in connection with the CBI’s probe into the actor’s death, a police official said. Earlier in the day, Sushant’s business manager Shruti Modi, his talent manager Jaya Saha and cook Neeraj were also at the guest house, where the team carrying out the probe is stationed, he said.
--------------------------------
Actor to be called for questioning again today; Agency conducts fresh raids in case
Somendranath Sharma (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 7, 2020)

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Sunday questioned actor Rhea Chakraborty for six hours in the drugs case linked to the death of her partner and actor, Sushant Singh Rajput. Showik, her brother, was present during the questioning.

Rajput’s house staff Deepesh Sawant, the eighth person to be arrested in connection with the case, had told NCB in his statement that on April 17, Rhea and Showik had ordered him to receive delivery of 10 grams of contraband from Kaizan Ibrahim, also an arrested accused in the case, near Mount Blanc Building, where Rajput lived. This became a major ground for the police to question Rhea about her alleged links with drug peddlers.

Escorted by police, the 28-year-old arrived at the agency’s Ballard Estate office at noon and left shortly after 6 pm. The actress was mobbed when she arrived. “Is there any work ethics for media?” National Commission for Women chief Rekha Sharma later tweeted.

Later, NCB Deputy Director General (south-west region) Mutha Ashok Jain said outside the agency’s office that Rhea will be called again on Monday for questioning.

“We confronted Rhea along with others, including Showik, to know further about the roles of everyone,” he said.

He said the agency also conducted fresh raids in the case against a man identified as Anuj Keshvani after his name came to the fore during the interrogation of Ibrahim.

“We have seized 590 grams of hashish, 0.64 grams of LSD sheets, 304 grams of marijuana, including imported marijuana joints and capsules, Rs 1,85,200 in cash and 5,000 Indonesian Rupiah after the raids on Keshvani,” Jain said.

The day started with an NCB team visiting Rhea’s home in Santa Cruz (West) to serve summons to her for joining the probe.

The agency has said that once Rhea deposes, it wants to question Showik, Rajput’s house manager Samuel Miranda and Sawant. The NCB, over the last two days, has arrested these three men in the case.

Officials said Rhea was questioned on these lines on Sunday. She was earlier questioned by the ED and the CBI too.

Rhea, in interviews given to multiple TV news channels, has said that she has never consumed drugs. She, however, claimed that the late actor used to consume marijuana.

It is claimed that Miranda told NCB investigators that he used to procure bud or curated marijuana for the late actor’s household.

A total of eight people have been arrested till now by the NCB, with six being directly linked to this probe, while two were arrested when the investigation was launched under criminal sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

When the probe began, the agency arrested two men, Abbas Lakhani and Karan Arora, for alleged drug peddling, and officials have claimed that through them they reached Zaid Vilatra and Abdel Basit Parihar, who are allegedly linked to this drugs case as they were in touch with Miranda.

Miranda, they had said, used to allegedly procure drugs from them on the instructions of Showik, agency officials said.

Both Lakhani and Arora have been granted bail.

“Rhea Chakraborty is ready for arrest, as this is a witch-hunt. If loving someone is a crime, she will face the consequences of her love. Being innocent, she has not approached any court for anticipatory bail in any of the cases foisted on her,” the actor’s advocate, Satish Maneshinde, said.