Sushant Singh Rajput death: Court discharges Australian man in drugs case

“…there is no sufficient ground for proceeding against the applicant/accused. As there is no material to prove the factum of actual involvement of the applicant/accused in the commission of the alleged  offence, no charge can be framed against the applicant/accused No.25 (Bartels) on the basis of the material on record,” special judge Mahesh K Jadhav said in the order passed on August 9.

The NCB had booked Bartels and 25 others, including actor Rhea Chakraborty, in the case.

Bartels’ lawyers, Ayaz Khan and Zehra Charania, had submitted that there was no evidence to show his involvement in any drug distribution or even consumption of drugs.

They submitted that in 2020, the NCB had searched Bartel’s house and found nothing incriminating. There were no financial transactions either showing his links with any of the co-accused including one Nikhil Saldanha, with whom the NCB had alleged a nexus, they submitted.

The court said that the NCB had claimed that the statements of Dematriadeas and Saldanha implicated Bartels but their statements reflect no connection between them.

The court said that one subsequent statement was claimed that there were meetings between the accused but no nexus was established.

It also agreed with the contention of Bartels’ lawyers that the statements of accused cannot be used as evidence, and is inadmissible in law.

The court said a trial against Bartels will only be an “empty formality”.

It also said that there were no WhatsApp chats of the accused with the co-accused as was claimed by the NCB, nor were any medical tests done to show that he had consumed any drug.

“There is no chemical analyser’s report which reflects that applicant/accused has consumed contraband substance. The entire chargesheet did not reflect that investigating officer carried the blood sample of the present applicant/accused. There is no evidence or prima facie material on record which would show that applicant/accused consume contraband substance,” the court said.

Some of the other accused in the case have also filed discharge pleas, which are pending.