NCB moves to Supreme Court challenging the Bombay High Court order granting bail to Rhea Chakraborty

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has moved to the Supreme Court challenging the Bombay High Court’s order granting bail to actress Rhea Chakraborty in cases registered against her under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS Act). A bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and comprising Justices A.S. Bopanna and V. Ramasubramanian is likely to hear the matter on March 18.

The High Court granted bail to Rhea Chakraborty in October 2020 after furnishing a bond of Rs. 1 Lakh. Rhea was among the 20 people arrested by the NCB in connection with the drugs angle probe into the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Rhea had spent 28 days in custody.

Rhea’s counsel had contended that the NCB lacked jurisdiction to probe the matter in view of the Supreme Court order of 19th August 2020 directing to hand over all investigations in the Sushant Singh Rajput case to the CBI, the offences under which the accused were nabbed by the NCB were bailable and the charges under the NDPS Act Section 217A against the accused did not have supporting evidence.