New Delhi: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Tuesday told the Supreme Court it is not challenging the bail granted to actor Rhea Chakraborty regarding a drugs-related probe connected with the death of film star Sushant Singh Rajput.
Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, representing the NCB, submitted before a bench headed by justice A S Bopanna and comprising justice M M Sundresh that NCB is not challenging the bail. Raju, however, stressed that the question of law should be kept open in connection with the Section 27-A of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
After hearing submissions, the top court , considering Raju's submissions, observed that at this stage the challenge to the grant of bail order may not be required but the question of law raised is left open to be considered in an appropriate case. The top court clarified that the judgment may not be treated as precedent in any other case.
The bench was considering NCB’s plea challenging the Bombay high Court order, which granted bail to Chakraborty. The high court had said that simply paying for a particular drug transaction does not qualify as financing drug traffic.
Chakraborty was charged under the stringent Section 27-A of the NDPS Act, pertaining to financing and harbouring illegal drug trafficking and entails imprisonment of up to 10 years and a bar on grant of bail.
The high court had observed that Chakraborty did not have criminal antecedents, and it was unlikely that she would tamper with evidence or affect the probe while out on bail.
While granting her bail on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh, the high court had observed in its order that Chakraborty did not have criminal antecedents, and it was unlikely that she would tamper with evidence or affect the probe while out on bail. Rajput, for whom Rhea allegedly procured drugs, had no apprehension of arrest and therefore, the charge of harbouring too could not be applied, it had said. The court had also dismissed the argument that Rhea's bail be rejected to "send out a strong message" to society.
The court also held that a detailed interpretation of the NDPS Act and previous judgments of the Supreme Court showed that all offences under the Act were non-bailable. Also, section 27-A can be invoked even if the quantity of the drug seized is not "commercial", the judge said. In India a bailable offence is under which a person can be enlarged on bail soon after arrest. In non-bailable cases, which include those of rape, murder, kidnapping, human trafficking, counterfeiting and terrorism, the bail depends on the discretion of court.
However, in Chakraborty's case, since there was no financing or harbouring (of drugs or its consumers), Section 27-A could not be applied, the HC said. Rajput, 34, was found hanging at his apartment in suburban Bandra on June 14, 2020. After a case of alleged abetment to suicide was registered against Chakraborty by Rajput's parents, a parallel probe into alleged drug procurement by her also began on the basis of her WhatsApp chats.
