Sushant Singh Rajput's family accused Rhea Chakraborty of abetment to suicide
Actor Rhea Chakraborty and her brother Showik told the Bombay High Court that the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), which is probing a drugs case linked to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, has no jurisdiction to initiate the inquiry, their lawyer Satish Maneshinde has said.
Mr Maneshinde told the court that the drugs case being handled by the NCB should have been transferred to the CBI, which is probing the death of Mr Rajput.
The court did not pass any order on the bail pleas of the Chakrabortys and suggested the NCB file a reply by Monday.
The siblings have been charged by the NCB under various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. Currently in judicial custody, the two had approached the high court earlier this week challenging the orders of a special NDPS court in the city that had rejected their bail pleas.
Mr Maneshinde told a single-bench presided over by Justice Sarang Kotwal that the Supreme Court, while hearing the pleas seeking a CBI probe into the alleged suicide of Mr Rajput, had ruled that all cases related to the death would be investigated by the CBI.
"The CBI, that is already investigating the death case, is also empowered to probe cases under the NDPS Act," Mr Maneshinde said. "Therefore, the NCB should have transferred the probe to the CBI after the offences under the NDPS Act were registered," he said.
The lawyer said both Rhea Chakraborty and Showik should not have been booked under the stringent section 27A of the NDPS Act, which pertains to financing of drugs and provides for imprisonment of up to 10 years on conviction.
However, the siblings and others arrested in the case have maintained in their bail pleas that the NCB has seized only 59 grams of drugs, which cannot be termed as commercial quantity, and therefore, they shouldn't have been booked under 27A.