Updated

Mumbai, Sep 8 (IANS): In an anti-climax of sorts, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Tuesday arrested Charaborty, but later declined to take her into its own custody and instead sought 14-day judicial custody, which was granted.

A local Magistrate here sent actress Rhea Chakraborty to 14-day judicial custody late on Tuesday night.

The NCB made the sensational arrest shortly after 3.30 pm as part of its probe to unravel the drugs nexus in the film industry, capping three days of tough grilling and intense speculation.

Rhea was charged under NDPS Act Sections 8(C), 20(b)(ii), 22, 27A, 28 and 29, for her alleged role in the drugs angle which has emerged in the investigations into the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, said NCB Deputy Director M.A. Jain.

Jain added that whatever information she has given to the NCB was "sufficient for the arrest", and she was produced in a video-conference before the Esplanade Court Magistrate late on Tuesday evening.

In its six-page NCB remand application, Rhea was described as "an active member of the drug syndicate connected with drug supplies" who "used to manage finances for drug procurement along with Sushant Singh Raput" -- without any mention if she herself consumed drugs.

Late on Tuesday night, a Mumbai Magistrate sent her to 14 days judicial custody, after which Rhea's lawyers moved the same court for bail, which was declined.

Since a woman cannot be taken to a regular jail at night, Rhea is expected to spend the night in the NCB's lockup while her legal team plans the next move, including applying for bail in a higher court.

Earlier on Tuesday, Rhea -- who has all along maintained she is innocent -- was quickly whisked off for a mandatory medical test at the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation's LTMG Sion Hospital, and came back to the NCB office for the court hearing.

In a scathing statement targeting the family of Sushant, Rhea's lawyer Satish Maneshinde termed it as a "travesty of justice".

"Three Central agencies hounding a single woman, just because she was in love with a drug addict and was suffering from mental health issues for several years under the case of five leading psychiatrists in Mumbai, who ended up committing suicide due to consumption of illegally administered medicines and used drugs," Maneshinde said.

A day before her much-anticipated arrest, Rhea even took time out -- at the height of the NCB interrrogation sessions -- to hit back at the late actor's family by lodging a police complaint against Sushant's sister Priyanka Singh and Dr Tarun Kumar of RML Hospital in New Delhi and others, alleging forged medical prescriptions.

A Mumbai Police official spokesperson said that the complaint has been lodged with Bandra Police under various sections of Indian Penal Code and NDPS Act, and in line with the Supreme Court orders, the case has been transferred to the CBI for investigations.

Rhea's arrest came three days after her brother Showik Chakraborty, Sushant's home manager Samuel Miranda and his house help Dipesh Sawant were arrested and shunted to NCB custody till September 9, besides two other drug peddlers Abdel Basit Parihar and Zaid Vilatra, who are also in NCB custody.

The NCB had earlier said that with these arrests, it hopes to "uproot the drugs citadel in Bollywood and Mumbai" amid talk of several more Bollywood personalities coming into the agency's radar.

Earlier, Rhea was grilled multiple times by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED). She was also questioned by the Mumbai Police earlier. She has now finally been arrested by the NCB, nearly 11 weeks after Sushant was found dead at his Bandra home on June 14.

Displaying confidence in her gait post-arrest, Rhea appeared calm and composed as she stepped out of the NCB office to proceed for her medical and subsequent legal formalities.

Till date, the NCB interrogated Rhea for six hours on Sunday, for eight hours on Monday and again for around five hours on Tuesday before placing her under arrest.

Maneshinde said earlier that Rhea has not approached any court seeking anticipatory bail in all the cases foisted by Bihar Police, now with the CBI, ED and NCB.

Mumbai police file abetment to suicide charge against Sushant Singh's sisters

Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai

Mumbai police on Tuesday September 8 registered a case of abetment to suicide against two of Sushant Singh Rajput's sisters and others following the accusations made against them by Rhea Chakraborty. In her complaint, Rhea accused sisters, Priyanka and Meetu Singh of making 'bogus medical prescription' to enable Sushant to access anxiety medication that cannot legally be prescribed on WhatsApp.

The case has been transferred to the CBI for further investigation in accordance with orders of the Supreme Court, Mumbai Police said.

Along with the sisters, Dr Tarun Kumar of Delhi's Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and others have also been booked in the matter, an official said.

"Rhea Chakraborty has set the criminal law in motion by filing her complaint with Bandra police station. The cocktail of illegally administered medicines and drugs may have lead to SSR's suicide on June 14, 2020. His sisters need to be answerable to the investigators and God," Rhea's lawyer Satish Maneshinde said on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Varun Singh, the sisters' lawyer, told that they will approach the court seeking quashing of the First Information Report (FIR) registered against them, a report by NDTV stated.

"Bandra Police Station seems to be Rhea Chakraborty's second home as she runs to the police station over all kinds of petty issues," Rajput's family lawyer Vikas Singh added.

Rhea Chakraborty's complaint alleged that the forged prescription depicted Sushant Singh Rajput as being at a Delhi Out Patient Department when in fact he was in Mumbai.

"(Sushant Singh Rajput) died merely five days after obtaining the prescription in which he was unlawfully prescribed psychotropic substances," Rhea said in her complaint on Monday.

"It is imperative that the actions of Priyanka Singh, Dr Tarun Kumar and others be investigated and that it be determined as to how they came to provide the deceased with such a bogus and unlawful prescription," she said.

The complaint is based on WhatsApp texts between the actor and his sister from June 8, six days before he was found dead in his Mumbai apartment.

From the chat, it appears that one of Rajput's sisters Priyanka Singh asks him to take Librium for a week, Nexito every day and Lonazep for "whenever there is anxiety attack".

All three are prescribed for depression and anxiety. Priyanka Singh also appears to tell her brother that she can help him connect with the "best doctor in Mumbai, all confidential".

A prescription that she WhatsApped her brother appeared "forged and fabricated" and the drugs cannot be prescribed electronically, Rhea Chakraborty alleged.

Rhea Chakraborty, who left Sushant Singh Rajput's apartment the same day, claims the actor showed her the messages. Defending herself, Rhea maintained that she was against him consuming the medicines and tried to dissuade him from taking medication which are not prescribed by his doctors. Further, she maintained that Rajput "insisted" on only taking medicines "his sister was prescribing him".

However, Rajput's family lawyer Vikas Singh rebutted Rhea's charge saying there was "no criminality" involved. He said the complaint was her attempt to keep the Mumbai Police's jurisdiction alive in the case after the Supreme Court asked the CBI to take over the entire investigation.

Following the accusations, it is likely that Sushant Singh Rajput's family may approach the Bombay High Court against Rhea Chakraborty's FIR that she filed on Monday in Bandra Police Station accusing Sushant Singh Rajput's sister, Priyanka Singh, Dr Tarun Kumar of RML hospital, and others for forgery and prescribing illegal drugs under the NDPS Act and Tele Medicine Practice Guidelines 2020. Sushant Singh Rajput's family has an objection from this FIR because the Supreme Court had instructed that the CBI is in charge of Sushant Singh Rajput death case. The SC on August 19, in a detailed 35-page long judgement, had said that any further complaint registered in Sushant Singh Rajput death case will also be looked into by the CBI.