By Raju Vernekar
Mumbai, 13 September:
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) conducted raids at different locations in Mumbai and Goa in connection with the drug angle in the actor Sushant Singh Rajput death case and arrested six drug peddlers on Saturday.
During the raids, the NCB seized about 4.5 kg of heroin, 445 grams of cocaine and 1.1 kg of marijuana and detained one Karamjeet Anand (23) from Andheri West in North West Mumbai. He used to supply drugs to actress Rhea Chakraborty’s brother Showik and Sushant’s ex-House Manager Samuel Miranda. Besides Karamjeet, the NCB team took into custody Dywan Anthony Fernandes, a suspected supplier of cannabis, and two others from Dadar, in Central Mumbai and recovered 500 gm cannabis from the trio.
Simultaneously, Ankush Arenja (29) was nabbed from Powai in North East Mumbai and 42 gm charas and Rs 1,12,400 in cash was recovered from him. He used to receive the contraband from Karamjeet and used to supply it to one of the accused, Anuj Keshwani, arrested earlier by the NCB. In yet another raid, NCB apprehended one Chris Costa from Goa. The raids were led by zonal director Sameer Wankhede, an official said.
The accused arrested by NCP in the last few days include: 1.Rhea, 2. her brother Showik, 3. Abdul Basit Parihar, 4 Zaid Vilatra, 5 Dipesh Sawant, 6 Samuel Miranda 7 Karamjeet, 8 Anuj Keshwani 09 Ankush Arenja, 10 Dywan Anthony Fernandes, and11. Chris Costa.
Rhea who admitted that she used to procure drugs for Sushant, has reportedly given several Bollywood names in the drugs syndicate and the NCB is expected to summon 25 prominent Bollywood stars in the drug investigations soon.
In the meanwhile Rhea, Showik and 4 others who have been remanded to judicial custody till 22 September, are expected to move the Bombay high court for bail next week. Their bail application was rejected by the City Session court on Thursday.
“Once we get a copy of the NDPS Special Court Order, we will decide on the future course of action, about approaching the Bombay High Court,” Rhea’s advocate Satish Maneshinde said. “The case against her is that she coordinated the delivery of drugs for her boyfriend (Sushant) and occasionally even made the payment for it. These allegations make for an offence that is bailable,” he added.
Sushant allegedly committed suicide at his residence at Bandra in North West Mumbai, on June 14. Following his death, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the NCB registered a case to solve the mystery around his death after his father K K Singh filed an FIR in Patna (Bihar) on July 25 accusing Rhea of abetting his suicide.