Sushant Singh Rajput case: CBI questions Rhea Chakraborty's parents; NCB, ED probe Bollywood-drug mafia nexus

After 13 days of investigation into the mysterious death of Sushant Singh Rajput, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday for the first time grilled Rhea Chakraborty’s parents even as Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) dug deeper into the angle of Bollywood-drug mafia nexus.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) continued to investigate the money laundering angle.

Rhea and her brother Showik have been grilled multiple times by the CBI over the past few days.

Their parents Lt Col (retd) Dr Indrajit Chakraborty and Sandhya drove to the DRDO & Air Force office/transit facility at Kalina in Mumbai.

Meanwhile, hectic activity was seen at the offices of ED and NCB, both located in the Ballard Estate area of Mumbai.

Goa-based hotelier Gaurav Arya was being grilled by the ED as agencies found out WhatsApp chat between him and Rhea.

Some of the Bollywood personalities and politicians are under the scanner of the three premier central agencies, that is looking at various angles into the case.

During the interrogation, Rhea and Siddharth Pithani, the flatmate of Sushant, had told the agencies that the actor used to smoke marijuana.

They agencies are trying to zero in on the drug mafia that was supplying contraband to the who’s who of the entertainment industry.

The NCB has registered the case against Rhea and others under various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, including Section 27, which specifies punishment for consumption of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance and Section 29, which provides for punishment in case of abetment and criminal conspiracy.

NCB director-general Rakesh Asthana held a meeting with top officials of the premier anti-narcotics agency.

The NCB is conducting an intensive operation against the illegal import of curated marijuana (bud), which is primarily sourced from the USA and Canada and has huge market demand in Mumbai.

In all, 3.5 kg of bud has been seized from foreign post offices based on the specific inputs.

“The widespread use and demand of bud in Mumbai region has jacked up the prices in the grey market and it has huge pecuniary gains in the trafficking. The sourcing of the bud is primarily through the Darknet, which gives the layers of the anonymity to the buyers and sellers. The economic transactions in these types of international drug trafficking is based on the cryptocurrency dealings,” NCB’s deputy director of operations KPS Malhotra said.

The operations in Mumbai had found the links with Goa and one person F. Ahmed, a resident of Calangute, Goa has been intercepted, who works in a prominent resort as driver.

It has further been learnt that F. Ahmed was supplying the bud to some prominent receiver at Bangalore, who has linkages with Page 3 celebrities.

In the operations at Delhi, the source of the bud was found to be the USA. The consignee of the contraband was based in Delhi, but was misguided by his contact at Mumbai that some legal stuff is being procured from the USA and the same was further to be collected by Mumbai based persons, whose search is underway.