[Sushant Singh Rajput case] Accused abetted Rajput into extreme drug addiction: NCB to Mumbai court

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has filed draft charges before a Mumbai Court in which the agency has arraigned 35 accused for criminal conspiracy to procure, purchase and distribute narcotic drugs to 'high society and Bollywood'. .The agency alleged that late Rajput's room mate Siddharth Pithani was in direct contact with actress Rhea Chakraborty and two others for procuring drugs for Rajput's consumption, thereby, abetting him into extreme drug addiction.The draft charges were filed in the drug case being probed in connection with the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput.The agency had earlier filed a chargesheet in two parts - about 11,700 pages were filed through physical copy while over 50,000 pages through digital format in the form of CDs.The charged accused include actress Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik Chakraborty, Bollywood producer Kshitij Prasad, Rajput's room mate Siddharth Pithani and 31 others.They have been arraigned for offences punishable under Sections 8(c), 20(b)(ii), 22, 27A, 28, 29 and 30 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.."That accused no. 1 to 35 entered criminal conspiracy during March to December 2020 with each other or in groups to procure, purchase, sale, transport inter city, distribute in the high society and Bollywood, finance the drug trafficking and or consumption," the agency said in the draft charges submitted. The draft charges also included specific allegations against each of the 35 accused. Against Showik, the agency has alleged that he was in regular touch with drug peddlers to place orders and receive deliveries. It was also alleged that he delivered some of the drugs to late Rajput. Rhea has been charged for having made financial transactions for those deliveries, the draft charges stated. Pithani has been accused of being in touch with some of the co-accused in the case to procure drugs for Rajput's consumption, while making payments for the same using Rajput's bank account, thus having aided and abetted Rajput to "extreme drug addiction"..The draft charges were submitted before the Special NDPS judge VG Raghuvanshi who from July 27, 2022 would begin hearing the prosecution and the defence to finally frame charges in the case..Meanwhile, certain accused have filed applications seeking discharge from the case. One such application was filed by Dharma productions employee Kshitij Prasad who has prayed for discharge through advocate Nikhil Maneshinde. .Amongst other grounds, Prasad has cited the Cordelia cruise drugs case where Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan's son Aryan Khan was prime accused and was subsequently given a clean chit by the agency. Prasad contended in his application that he too ought to be released as there had been neither drug recovery nor any other concrete evidence to prove the charges against him. Both the NDPS cases, Rhea Chakraborty case and the cruise ship drugs case, were investigated by a team headed by the same "overzealous and over-ambitious" officer, it was pointed out."The said officer had an intention to gain media attention by destabilising and invoking fear in the Bollywood Industry. The said Officer wanted the present applicant to falsely name certain film directors, producers, actors and actresses as consumers/suppliers of drugs. It was only when the Applicant refused to adhere to the Officers request was the present case filed against the applicant," the application claimed.