Rhea Chakraborty granted bail by Bombay High Court in drugs case

Oct. 7: On Wednesday, the Bombay High Court  granted bail to actor Rhea Chakraborty in an alleged drugs case related to the death of Sushant Singh Rajput. Her brother Showik’s bail has been rejected. They were arrested last month by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). Rhea has been asked to inform the investigating officer if she plans to leave Greater Mumbai. The High Court ordered Rhea to mark her presence for ten days in the nearest police station after release. She should deposit her passport and should not travel outside the country without the prior permission of the court, and pay a surety of Rs 1 lakh.

“She is not part of the chain of drug dealers. She has not forwarded the drugs allegedly procured by her to somebody else to earn monetary or other benefits. Since Chakraborty had no criminal antecedents, there are reasonable grounds for believing that she is not likely to commit any offence while on bail,” the High Court observed in its order.

Justice Sarang V Kotwal who passed the orders disagreed with NCB’s argument that celebrities and role models should be treated harshly so that it sets an example for the young generation and they do not get encouraged to commit such offences. The judge said, “I do not agree. Everybody is equal before the law.”

The bench also granted bail to Sushant Singh Rajput’s cook Dipesh Sawant and his domestic help Samuel Miranda on a personal bond of Rs. 50,000 each. They will have to be available for questioning whenever required and further conditions can be imposed for a limited period.

Recently, an All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) forensic team that was re-evaluating Rajput’s post-mortem report, ruled out any foul play in the actor’s death and concluded that he died by suicide. AIIMS doctors termed his death as “a case of hanging and death by suicide”. Meanwhile, the CBI had taken over the probe into the alleged abetment to suicide case filed by the Rajput’s father KK Singh in Patna against Chakraborty and her family.