Rebecca Samervel (THE TIMES OF INDIA; September 11, 2020)

Mumbai: ‘Strongly opposing’ actor Rhea Chakraborty’s bail plea, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has claimed that she was clearly involved in financing activities related to illicit trafficking of drugs and this is supported by the voluntary statements made by her and other accused, WhatsApp chat records, call detail records and information recovered from laptops and tablets.

“The applicant (Rhea) was having conscious knowledge about drug consumption by Sushant Singh Rajput and she made herself part of this offence by procuring drugs. She has used her credit card and payment getaways to facilitate the financial transactions related to dealing of illicit drug trafficking,” the NCB said before a special NDPS court on Thursday. The court is likely to pronounce its order on Friday.

Special public prosecutor Atul Sarpande refuted Rhea’s claims that she was coerced into making self-incriminating confessions which she has now formally retracted. “The confession was taken legally and is admissible. Retraction is a routine process based on legal advice,” the prosecution said, adding that she “cannot escape the clutches of the law”.

He cited similar grounds to oppose the bail plea of Rhea’s brother Showik Chakraborty.

The prosecution said that, in a voluntary statement, Rhea had confessed that she was staying with Rajput since April 2019 and was procuring drugs for him through Showik and his associates Basit Parihar, Kaizan Ibrahim and Zaid Vilatra. “She was operating this drug procurement nexus through (Rajput’s house manager) Samuel Miranda, (cook) Deepesh Sawant and Showik,” it said.

While Rhea was arrested on Tuesday, Showik was arrested last week. Special judge G B Gurao is likely to pronounce the orders on the pleas of the siblings on Friday, along with the bail pleas of Miranda, Sawant, Vilatra and Parihar.

Emphasising that she should remain in Byculla jail, the prosecution submitted that Rhea, by her own submissions had “deep roots in society”, so others “in her circle” who are also involved in such an offence may threaten or compel her to remove evidence or tamper with it.

The prosecution said that “financing illicit traffic and harbouring offenders” was a non-bailable offence under Section 27A of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. Explaining how the section was applicable, it said, “As per her statement, she was making payment for the drugs and their delivery was taken by Miranda and Sawant for handing over those drugs to Sushant. Therefore, it is clear that the drugs... were not meant for personal consumption, but for supplying the same to other person.”

Sarpande added that contrary to claims made in Rhea’s bail plea, women officers were present during her interrogation earlier this week.

Rhea’s lawyer Satish Maneshinde argued that the offences against her were bailable and no purpose would be served by keeping her in jail. He added that she has cooperated with the investigations.