SSR case: Man held for alleged drug trafficking remanded in NCB custody
The accused, Zaid Vilatra (21), was produced before a metropolitan magistrate's court which remanded him in NCB's custody for seven days
Mumbai: A local court in Mumbai on Thursday remanded an alleged contraband dealer, arrested in connection with the drugs trafficking case linked to the case of actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, in the custody of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) till September 9.
The accused, Zaid Vilatra (21), was produced before a metropolitan magistrate’s court which remanded him in NCB’s custody for seven days for further probe in the case. At the time of his production, Vilatra’s lawyer Taraq Sayyed said he has filed an application before the court, claiming his client has not given any voluntary statement to the probe agency and that they (NCB) have taken his statement by force.
On the other hand, while seeking his remand, the NCB stated that on August 28, the Mumbai and Delhi NCB headquarters together had apprehended Abbas Lakhani and Karan Arora, with marijuana in their possession. They were arrested in another case but their interrogation led to Vilatra.
The agency told the court that Vilatra has revealed names of many persons to whom he supplied drugs. His custodial interrogation was “most essential and crucial” as it may lead to the main player in the drug field, it said. The NCB further said it is “investigating the drug angle in the case of Rajput's death and therefore, it is highly substantive and needs to be investigated thoroughly so as to uproot the drug citadel in Mumbai, and especially Bollywood”.
The probe agency on Wednesday arrested Vilatra and recovered 2,081 USD, 180 GBP and 15 Dirhams from him. It claimed that Lakhani had “linkages” with Vilatra. Basit Parihar, a resident of suburban Bandra, is “learnt to have linkages” with the narcotics case registered against Rajput’s girlfriend and actress Rhea Chakraborty and others.
The role of the actress’s brother Showik Chakraborty and his purported links with people nabbed by the NCB are under the scanner of the agency.
The NCB filed a case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act after the ED shared with it a report following the cloning of two mobile phones of Rhea Chakraborty. According to the officials, the mobile phone chats and messages indicated procurement, transportation and consumption of drugs.