Bombay HC adjourns Rhea, Showik Chakraborty's bail plea till Sept 29

The Bombay High Court adjourned the bail plea of Chakraborty sister-brother duo Rhea and Showik till next Tuesday.

After their arrest by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in connection with the drug angle of the Sushant Singh Rajput case, they are now under judicial custody.

They have been accused of sourcing and purchasing drugs for Sushant, who had died on June 14 under mysterious circumstances.

While Rhea (28) is in Women’s Prison in Byculla, Showik (24) is in Taloja Jail in neighbouring Raigad district.

Meanwhile, a special NDPS court in Mumbai has allowed the NCB to question Showik in Taloja Jail.

The bail plea was heard before Justice Sarang Kotwal, where Rhea and Showik were represented by their counsel Satish Maneshinde and the NCB by Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh.

Maneshinde said that the investigations by NCB are without jurisdiction and illegal as the Supreme Court in its order dated August 19 had directed that all cases in relation to Sushant’s death be transferred to CBI. “Therefore, the investigations are illegal,” he said.

He also pointed out that the case under section 27A of the NDPS Act is not applicable to them.

“The embargo on bail under section 37 of NDPS Act applies to commercial quantities only and the offences in relation to Rhea at worst are of small quantity. Nothing has been seized from Rhea… it’s a witch hunt,” he said.

Singh has sought time to file NCB’s reply.

It may be recalled the Metropolitan Magistrate's Court and Special NDPS Court had rejected their bail pleas following which Maneshinde had moved the Bombay High Court.