Sushant Singh Rajput's flatmate Siddharth Pithani denied bail in drugs case

A special NDPS court here on Saturday once again denied bail to Siddharth Pithani, the flatmate of Sushant Singh Rajput, in a drugs case linked to the Bollywood actor's death in June 2020.

Pithani was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on May 28 this year from Hyderabad and he is currently in judicial custody. He was booked under section 27 (A) (financing illicit traffic and harboring offenders) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, among other charges. His latest bail plea was rejected by Special Judge D B Mane. Earlier, his regular bail plea was rejected in August though the court had given him interim relief to attend his marriage.

On Friday, Pithani moved another bail application saying section 27A of the NDPS Act was wrongly applied and prayed for bail saying only a small quantity of (drugs) was seized. Section 27A pertains to punishment for financing illicit traffic and harbouring offenders. Special Public Prosecutor Advait Sethna, appearing for NCB, argued that all these grounds raised by Pithani were considered earlier.

Sethna argued that Pithani had not challenged the previous bail order in the High Court. As section 27A is invoked and the court found substance (in NCB's arguments), the anti-drug agency got 180 days to file a chargesheet, which is also not over. Hence his bail application be rejected, he said.

The NCB has been probing the drugs angle post the death of Rajput, whose body was found hanging in his flat, based on some WhatsApp chats about the alleged supply of drugs to some actors in Bollywood.

Following the actor's death, the NCB began a probe into alleged drug links in the film industry based on WhatsApp chats, and several people were arrested under the NDPS Act in this connection, most of who are out on bail currently.