S Ahmed Ali & Rebecca Samervel | TNN (THE TIMES OF INDIA; September 6, 2020)

Mumbai: Showik Chakraborty, Samuel Miranda and alleged drug peddler Kaizan Ibrahim alias Jaison, who were arrested on Friday in connection with a narcotics case reportedly linked to actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, were produced before the Esplanade magistrate court on Saturday.

Showik’s advocate Satish Maneshinde argued that sections of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act under which they were arrested were bailable. Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) did not press for Ibrahim’s custody and he was released on bail.

During arguments opposing Showik’s police custody remand, Maneshinde submitted that Rajput was consuming drugs against medical advice and his addiction was prevalent even before Rhea came into his life. “He enjoyed it in his lifetime and died. Instead, Showik and Samuel Miranda are being prosecuted after his death, which is unwarranted.” he said. Maneshinde submitted that Rajput had asked Rhea Chakraborty to leave his Bandra flat on June 8 as there was a disagreement on the line of treatment for his mental health condition. He said Rajput insisted on taking illegal and unwarranted prescription sent by his sister, Priyanka. He said while Rhea insisted on following the treatment of five doctors whom Rajput had consulted, he stopped it. “He was, on the contrary, consuming psychotropic drugs regularly. Doctors had advised him to desist from drug consumption and instead take the prescribed medicines,” he added.

The remand application said Showik, who has “given so many names with whom he was dealing in drugs”, will be brought face to face with his sister Rhea and others arrested in connection with the case. The NCB claimed Showik had arranged drugs for some other Bollywood stars too, which needed to be probed as well.

Samuel reportedly told investigators that Showik had given the reference of his friend, alleged drug peddler Suryadeep who, in turn, introduced him to another alleged peddler, Karamjeet or KJ, from whom he bought marijuana for Rajput for Rs 2,500 a packet between September 2019 and March 2020.

In March, Showik allegedly told Samuel to get marijuana for Rajput and gave him the contact of Zaid Vilatra, another alleged drug peddler from Bandra, and told him to use Basit Parihar’s reference. Samuel used a debit card to withdraw Rs 10,000 to buy marijuana.

Meanwhile, Vilatra and Parihar, who were arrested on Wednesday, submitted their bail pleas before the sessions court challenging their police custody remand until September 9.

Their pleas, submitted through advocate Taraq Sayyed, said neither was found in possession of drugs nor were any recovered at their instance. Vilatra’s plea said merely because both Indian and foreign currencies were found at his home, it did not constitute an offence under any Indian law. “A statement of the applicant (Vilatra) has been recorded forcefully that the cash was from sale of contraband. However, the same has been retracted on the very first day before the magistrate court,” it said.

The plea iterated even if the recoveries made at the instance of the first arrested accused, Abbas Lakhani and Karn Arora, were considered to be true, the “ganja” would total 60 gram, which is far lesser than the 1 kg required to qualify as “small quantity” under NDPS Act. The plea will be heard on Monday.

(With inputs by Mohua Das)