The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on late Friday arrested Showik Chakraborty, brother of Rhea Chakraborty, and Samuel Miranda, house manager of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput, in connection with “drug angle” probe the NCB is conducting as part of larger probe in circumstances related to the Bollywood actor’s death.
“Both have been arrested by NCB in connection with procuring drugs,” a top official of the agency told The Hindu while refusing to divulge more details.
Both have been arrested under sections 8C, 20B, 28 and 29 of NDPS Act and both have been charged for procuring, using and purchasing cannabis, and attempt to commit offences under NDPS Act and abatement and criminal conspiracy to commit an offence under NDPS Act.
The sections carry rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend up to 10 years if found guilty by the court.
Before the arrest on late evening, a team from the NCB had raided the residence of Showik in Santa Cruz (West) and Miranda’s residence in suburban Andheri (West) in the early hours of Friday.
Showik and Miranda's arrest are in addition to the arrest of two alleged drug peddlers Zaid Vilatra and Abdel Basit Parihar, who both allegedly supplied drugs to Showik and Miranda.
As per the details, The NCB had learnt that Zaid Vilatra had links with Showik Chakraborty. According to Showik's chat, on March 17, 2020, he reportedly shared Zaid's number with Samuel Miranda and asked him to pay 10,000 for 5 grams. Samuel connected with Zaid for the first time after Showik's instruction. Samuel had called Zaid thrice.
It may be noted that Sushant was found dead at his Bandra flat on June 14 this year. His death, believed to be suicide, triggered massive controversy with the Supreme Court ordering CBI probe while two other top agencies like the NCB and Enforcement Directorate (ED) in joining in.
Following many twists and turns, Bihar Police had lodged an FIR naming Rhea, the late actor’s girlfriend, as the main accused in the death case of the 34-year-old actor which was subsequently handed over to the central agency CBI by the Apex Court.
