NCB tells Supreme Court it is ‘not challenging’ bail granted to Rhea Chakraborty in drugs-related case

The Supreme Court was informed by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Tuesday.

That it was not challenging the bail granted to actor Rhea Chakraborty by the Bombay High Court in the cases registered against her in connection with a drugs-related probe linked to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

What happened in the Supreme Court
Additional Solicitor General SV Raju told a bench of Justices AS Bopanna and MM Sundresh that NCB is not challenging the bail but the question of law should be kept open with regard to Section 27-A of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

“We are not challenging the grant of bail but on the interpretation of section, please keep it open for consideration. Let the order not be a precedent also,” ASG told the bench. The apex court agreed and disposed of the government’s appeal while also clarifying that the Bombay High Court order would not be treated as a precedent.

Charges against Rhea Chakraborty
The apex court was hearing the NCB’s petition against the Bombay High Court order of October 2020 granting bail to Rhea Chakraborty, Sushant Singh Rajput’s girlfriend. The NCB had charged Chakraborty under the stringent Section 27-A of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act that pertains to “financing and harbouring illegal drug trafficking”.

The section entails imprisonment of up to 10 years and a bar on grant of bail. The High Court had said simply paying for a particular drug transaction does not qualify as financing drug traffic.

Sushant Singh Rajput, 34, was found dead at his apartment in suburban Bandra on June 14, 2020. After a case of alleged abetment to suicide was registered against Rhea Chakraborty by Sushant’s parents, a parallel probe into alleged drug procurement by her also began on the basis of her WhatsApp chats.