Siddharth Pithani granted bail in a drug case by Bombay High Court. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had arrested Pithani in May 2021.
Siddharth Pithani was arrested in May 2021 in a case registered under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act in the wake of actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. The Bombay High Court on Monday granted bail to the late actor SSR, who was arrested last year.
Following the death of Sushant Singh Rajput, the central agency has been looking into alleged drug use in the Bollywood and television industries.
According to an ANI reportA single-judge bench granted bail to Siddharth on a bond of Rs. 50,000. During his bail hearing, Pithani claimed that he was framed in a false case. To note, Sushant’s former girlfriend, Rhea Chakraborty, who is already out on bail, is also an accused in the case.
Siddhath Pithani lived with SSR in a plush apartment in Mumbai’s Bandra area. He was also a presenter at home when the late actor passed away. It was widely reported that Siddharth Pithani and Rhea Chakraborty, along with other late actors, participated in drug consumption. However, the Mumbai Police or CBI failed to figure out any concrete evidence. Investigators have also remained tight-lipped on their findings.
He had been booked under section 27 (A) of the Narcotic Drug and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, among other charges. Pithani had approached the High Court after his default bail plea was rejected by the special NDPS court.
Pithani claimed in his plea that he was never found in possession of any drugs and nothing which could suggest his involvement in drug trafficking. SSR allegedly committed suicide in his Mumbai residence in June 2020. Later, the NCB group took charge of this case. They collected evidence from some Whatsapp chats into an alleged drug supply racket.
Pithani’s lawyer argued that section 27 (A) was wrongly applied, as only a small quantity of contraband was seized from him. They further stated that Pithani was arrested on the basis of statements made by two accused—Sushant Singh Rajput’s Samuel Miranda and cook Dipesh Sawant—and the same was not admissible evidence. Pithani, in his appeal, submitted that there was no evidence of his involvement in illicit drug trafficking. He was also charged under sections 8 (C), 28, 29 and 30 of the NDPS act.
Pithani was the key suspect in this case and had been absconding for a long time. SSR shared a flat with him and was one of the first to notice SSR’s death. He was summoned thrice before he was finally nabbed from Hyderabad in May 2021. After obtaining a transit warrant from the Hyderabad court, he was produced before the chief metropolitan Magistrate at Esplanade, Mumbai, who remanded him to police custody and later to judicial custody.
Shreeram Shirsat argued for the NCB that there were videos on Pithani’s laptop and phone, as well as bank transfers through SSR account that could be linked to the purchase of contraband.
The special court had earlier rejected regular bail for Siddharth, stating that he was not entitled to be released at that point. He was given interim relief to attend his wedding last June.
NCB had arrested several other people, including Rhea Chakraborty, for the drug links in the film. Rhea, her brother Showik Chakraborty, and a number of people are also charged with drug usage, possession, and funding in the case. In that case, Rhea was detained in September 2020. The Bombay High Court grants her bail nearly a month after her arrest. The majority of them are out on bail now.
