Mumbai: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has arrested two suspected suppliers of drugs from separate areas in Mumbai during raids in the drugs case linked to actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death and seized Charas worth Rs 2.5 crore, an official said on Wednesday.
The official claimed it was the “biggest seizure” in the drugs case linked to Rajput’s death in which his girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty is an accused. She is currently out on bail.
The arrested accused are identified as Jinendra Jain alias Rigel Mahakal and Mohammad Azam Jumman Shaikh.
Mahakal
Mahakal was picked up late Tuesday night after raids in some areas of Mumbai, including Lokhandwala, by an NCB team led by its zonal director Sameer Wankhede, he said.
Mahakal’s name had cropped up during questioning of some drugs peddlers in the case.
He allegedly used to supply drugs to Anuj Keshwani, also an accused in the case arrested in September this year, who used to sell it to others, the official said.
Keshwani knows Mahakal as the supplier of Charas or Hasish, he said.
Shaikh was arrested after NCB raided his residence located at Milat Nagar in suburban Oshiwara, the official said.
5 kg Charas
The NCB recovered 5 kg Charas worth Rs 2.5 crore from Shaikh’s possession along with opium and ‘ecstasy’. The agency also found Rs 13.51 lakh at Shaikh’s house which has been seized, he said.
“This seizure (of contrabands) is a part of follow up (investigation) of Rhea Chakraborty case. This is the biggest haul of drugs seized in this particular case,” the official said.
Shaikh is the main supplier of Charas linked to this case, he said, adding that the seized contraband ‘Malana Cream’ is considered as the most desirable Charas in the world.
It is grown only in Malana region of Himachal Pradesh, the official said, adding that the cost of Malana Cream ranges from Rs 40-50 lakh per kg in the international market, he said.
Meanwhile, Mahakal was on Wednesday produced before a magistrate’s court here which remanded him in the NCB’s custody till December 11.
The NCB told the court that the investigation into the case was incomplete and Mahakal’s custody was required to confront him with other arrested accused, special public prosecutor Atul Sarpande said.
The federal anti-drugs agency also told the court that it need to question him about his WhatsApp chats, he said.
Based on some WhatsApp chats involving drugs, the NCB has been probing the alleged use of drugs in some quarters of Bollywood after the death of Rajput in June this year.
The agency had earlier arrested Chakraborty, her brother Showik Chakraborty, some staff members of Rajput and a few others under various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
Rhea Chakraborty, Showik, and some other accused were later granted bail.