Rhea Chakraborty, actress and ex-girlfriend of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput, was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Tuesday in order to probe her alleged links to a narcotics cartel and to investigate a drug abuse angle in Sushant’s death.
The 28-year-old actor will now be brought before the court along with brother Showik, who was arrested earlier, alongside house manager Samuel Miranda and the actor's cook Dipesh Sawant.
The NCB will seek that all four are remanded in custody to further probe allegations of substance abuse.
The Narcotics Control Bureau swung into action when WhatsApp chats retrieved from Rhea Chakraborty's phone revealed conversations around procuring drugs, allegedly for Sushant.
The arrest was made after three consecutive days of the NCB questioning the actress. With the arrest of Rhea, the total number of people arrested by different agencies in the case has risen to nine.
In another breakthrough for the narcotics agency, the brother-sister duo Showik and Rhea have allegedly revealed the names of 25 top Bollywood celebrities who were related to the drug cartel. Sources in the NCB told India today that they will soon issue a summons to the named Bollywood celebrities.
The NCB has claimed that Sushant’s cook Dipesh Sawant procured a total of 165 grams of marijuana between March and June at the behest of Rhea and Showik. Sawant also claimed that he saw Sushant smoking marijuana in September 2018.
Rhea Chakraborty is being investigated by three federal agencies over allegations by Sushant Singh Rajput's family that she and her family exploited the actor for money, mentally harassed him and had a role in his death.
Thirty-four-year-old Sushant was found dead in his flat in suburban Bandra in Mumbai, Maharashtra on 14 June. He was originally a resident of Bihar. Mumbai Police initially filed a case of unnatural death, but the case was later handed over to country's apex investigative agency CBI on the orders of the Supreme Court of India.