Days after Times Now sensationally claimed that Rhea Chakraborty had named Sara Ali Khan and Rakul Preet Singh in the drug trafficking case, the Office of Narcotics Control reportedly called the story false. The NCB, which arrested Rhea a few days ago for acquiring a banned substance for Sushant, also denied having prepared a list of Bollywood stars, including Saif Ali Khan’s daughter.
A Free Press Journal report quoted NCB Deputy Director KPS Malhotra as saying: “We have not prepared any Bollywood lists. The list prepared earlier was of street vendors and traffickers. It is being confused with Bollywood. “
Malhotra also rejected the claim made by Times Now that Rhea had named Sara and Rakul Preet in her confession. “The names have not been zeroed out,” the NCB official said.
Times Now in its report had stated that the NCB was preparing a list of actors and directors from Bollywood’s A, B and C lists. The controversial television channel had previously claimed that Rhea had named 25 names from the Hindi film industry.
Meanwhile, the television station has begun to face widespread condemnation for its latest instance of fake news.
The NCB has denied this alleged @navikakumar scoop on Sara Ali Khan and 2 other drug users. Why not @IndEditorsGuild read the riot act to @vineetjaintimes Who airs this kind of fake news? pic.twitter.com/jvl96ezBAs
– Swati Chaturvedi (@bainjal) September 13, 2020
Umm @vineetjaintimes how much garbage will there be @TimesNow spread? pic.twitter.com/crIhP6c397
– Swati Chaturvedi (@bainjal) September 13, 2020
After this incident, how are we sure that @republic and @TimesNow have shown on their channels are not fake. Will we continue to trust them? https://t.co/LLVqewTZto
– Shreyansh (@ shrey11v) September 13, 2020
Wondering who the Times Now sources were … These girls were brutally trolled on social media based on that report and if it was a false report, who will take responsibility? #Circus https://t.co/WUC44uukub
– Priyanka Hemanti Bhatt (@iPriyankaBhatt) September 13, 2020
Meanwhile, Times Now’s Navika Kumar defended her story when she tweeted: “… The story goes that these 3 were named by Rhea in her statement to NCB. They hung out together and did drugs. That was the story. The rest is your generalization. I keep my story. And clarifying to our viewers. Your comments don’t matter. “
Sushant reportedly died by committing suicide on June 14. Her body was found at her residence in Mumbai. Sushant’s father had accused Rea of foul play. The Bihar police had later submitted an FIR based on his complaint. Later, the Bihar government had given its approval to the request for a CBI investigation into Sushant’s death case.
However, the federal investigative agency has yet to make any progress to substantiate the allegations of Sushant’s murder, as widely alleged by fans and relatives of the late actor.
