Accused abetted Sushant Singh Rajput to ‘extreme drug addiction’: NCB draft charge

The NCB has submitted its draft proposing to charge the 35 accused under various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. Some of the accused include Rajput’s then girlfriend, Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik and the late actor’s two staffers who have been charged with allegedly buying drugs for Rajput. The NCB claims that since 2018, Rajput had been receiving regular delivery of drugs through various persons including his staffers. In 2020, the NCB claimed that drugs were supplied to Rajput at the instance of the actor or Chakraborty with the latter receiving a few deliveries for ganja and handing it over to him. The NCB claims that Pithani procured drugs for Rajput through the actor’s bank account, calling it “puja samagri”.

The NCB also claimed that Agisilaos Demetriades, the brother of actor Arjun Rampal’s partner, had procured cocaine from a Nigerian national and cannabis and ganja from two co-accused several times “and circulated it in high society and Bollywood”. The draft charge does not mention who the drugs were circulated to. It claims that the accused indulged in the offences for sale of drugs for monetary gain.

The NCB has charged the accused on charges including Section 8(c) read with 20(b)(ii)(A), 22, 27, 27A, 28, 29 and 30 of the NDPS Act. These pertain to production, manufacture, sale, purchase, transport, consumption of any narcotic drug, use and possession of cannabis and psychotropic substances, financing illicit traffic and harbouring offenders as well as abetment and criminal conspiracy, attempt and preparation of committing an offence.

The court will peruse the evidence and hear the NCB as well as the accused before deciding the charges they can be tried for.