Mumbai, Oct 07 (PTI): The Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted bail to actress Rhea Chakraborty in a drugs case in actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, but with strict conditions including to appear before Mumbai Police for 10 days and before the NCB once in a month for next six months.
It also directed her to submit a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and not to tamper with evidence while out on bail.
A bench of Justice Sarang Kotwal also granted bail to Rajput’s aides Dipesh Sawant and Samuel Miranda, but rejected the bail plea of Rhea’ brother Showik Chakraborty, who is also an accused in the case being probed by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
The court also rejected the bail plea of alleged drug peddler Abdel Basit Parihar.
All these accused were arrested by the NCB last month.
The court said Rhea Chakraborty could not be said to have financed or harboured illicit drug trafficking as alleged by the central agency.
The court also observed that she did not have any criminal antecedents, and it was unlikely that she could affect the probe or tamper with evidence while out on bail.
The HC, however, said it was imposing “sufficient stringent conditions” on her bail.
It directed her not to tamper evidence or interfere with the NCB’s probe. It said Rhea will have to visit the nearest police station everyday at 11 am for the first 10 days after her release from judicial custody.
The court also directed her to appear before the NCB on the first day of every month for the next six months.
Rhea also can’t leave Mumbai without the NCB’s permission and without giving her itinerary for such travel to the central agency.
For travelling outside the country, she will need permission from special judge of the NDPS court here, it said.
The NCB has charged Rhea under the stringent Section 27-A of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act that pertains to the offence of financing andd harbouring illegal drug trafficking.
The section entails imprisonment up to 10 years and also has a bar on the grant of bail.
The HC said simply paying for a particular drug transaction does not qualify as financing (illicit drug traffic), as described under the Act.
“The allegations against the applicant of spending money in procuring drugs for Sushant Singh Rajput will not, therefore, mean that she had financed illicit traffic,” the court said.
