Mumbai: Siddharth Pithani, who was under the scanner in the drugs case linked to the suicide of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, his roommate at that time, was arrested in Hyderabad on Thursday by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and brought here. Pithani had been on the run for eight months.

Pithani, a creative content manager, has been charged under sections 20B, 28, 29, 27A and 8(c) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic substance (NDPS) Act for offences like dealing in drugs, financing its trade and conspiracy, and remanded in judicial custody till June 1, reports Ahmed Ali.

Officials said Pithani is the 34th person to be arrested in the case in which Rajput’s girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty and her brother Showik were held. Despite three summons since October last year, Pithani did not join the investigation. “NCB Mumbai gathered intelligence of his presence in Hyderabad. A team was sent, he was apprehended and produced before a local court for transit remand to Mumbai. He was facilitating drugs in the case,” said NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede.

Bureau officials claimed Pithani procured and distributed drugs, and even consumed them. Investigations have revealed Rajput was depressed and suffering from bipolar disorder and had been advised by the psychiatrist treating him to stay away from drugs, but a few “friends” helped him get it. The NCB in March filed a 12,000-page chargesheet against 33 persons, hinting at a Bollywood-drug dealers nexus.

The CBI and Mumbai police have already questioned Pithani, one of the four persons present in Rajput’s house when he was found hanging in his room on June 14 last year, as he was a key member of Rajput’s team.