After spending 28 days in jail, Rhea was released from Byculla Women’s Prison here around 5.30pm amid a riot of journalists.
While posting bail with a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh, the court asked the actress to appear before the Mumbai police for 10 days and before the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB, which had arrested her) once a month for the next six months.
Meanwhile, the Rajput family’s lawyer, Vikas Singh, attacked the AIIMS forensic team today which had filed a report saying the actor died by suicide and not murder.
The lawyer claimed that the AIIMS report “lacks credibility” and his team has written to the CBI to set up a new medical team to investigate the case.
Earlier today, HC Judge Sarang Kotwal also granted bail to Rajput’s domestic helpers Dipesh Sawant and Samuel Miranda, but rejected the release on bail of Rhea’s brother Showik Chakraborty.
The court also rejected the release on bail of alleged drug trafficker Abdel Basit Parihar.
The HC noted in its warrant that Rhea had no criminal record, and was unlikely to tamper with evidence or affect the investigation while she was out on bail.
However, Rhea cannot leave Mumbai without permission from the NCB and to travel outside the country she will need permission from the NDPS special court here, the HC said.
The NCB has charged Rhea under strict Section 27-A of the Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) which refers to “financing and harboring the illegal drug trade.” It entails a prison sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a prohibition on the granting of bail.
The HC said that simply paying for a particular drug transaction does not qualify as drug trafficking financing.
“The accusations against the applicant of spending money to purchase drugs for Sushant Singh Rajput will not, therefore, mean that she has financed the illicit trafficking,” the court said.
He also pointed out that harboring an offender as described in the Act would mean providing money for that person’s drug use and at the same time giving him shelter and food.
Rajput, for whom Rhea allegedly bought drugs, had no fear of arrest and thus the shelter charge could not be applied either, he said.
The court also rejected the argument that Rhea’s bail was rejected to “send a strong message” to society.
“The scholar ASG (additional attorney general) had argued that celebrities and role models should be treated harshly to set an example for the young generation … I disagree,” Judge Kotwal said.
“Everyone is equal before the law. No celebrity or role model enjoys special privilege before the court of law. Similarly, that person does not incur any special responsibility when facing the law in court,” He said.
The HC, however, rejected Rhea’s brother Showik’s release on bail.
“The applicant (Showik) was facilitating the acquisition of drugs from one of the parties to supply them to Sushant Singh Rajput. He was clearly involved in illicit trafficking or illegal drug trade,” the court said.
“The applicant appears to be an important link in the chain of drug traffickers. He was in contact with different traffickers,” the court said.
‘AIIMS forensic team report lacks credibility’
Lawyer for the Rajput family, Vikas Singh, claimed on Wednesday that the report presented by the AIIMS forensic team “lacks credibility” and they have asked the CBI to investigate the AIIMS team and find out “with whom they have recently met. “.
The lead lawyer said the Rajput family will approach the court if a new forensic panel is not formed.
The lawyer said that only the CBI can determine whether the Rajput’s death was a suicide case and that AIIMS “has no right” to say whether it was suicide or hanging.
“We want to take all measures to ensure that a fair investigation is carried out and we will even go to court to form a new panel and obtain justice,” he said.
Rajput’s family wrote to the CBI on Wednesday alleging “unprofessional conduct” by AIIMS director Sudhir Gupta in leaking a forensic report on the late actor and seeking a new panel for a fair and proper assessment of his death.
The AIIMS medical board has ruled out the murder in the case and called it “a case of hanging and death by suicide,” the first institute’s chief coroner, Gupta, said on Saturday.
At the press conference, Singh claimed that Gupta had previously told him that the Rajput’s death was “a 200 percent strangulation case” after seeing the images of his body that his sister had clicked on.
Commenting on the bail granted to actress Rhea Chakraborty, she told the media that she has been granted bail under the premise of a narcotics case against her, which is “very weak.”
“The real question is whether or not you administered the medications to Sushant without his knowledge. Did you tell the doctors, to whom you took him for treatment, about their use,” he said.
The 34-year-old Rajput was found hanged in his apartment in the suburbs of Bandra on June 14. After Rajput’s parents registered a case of alleged complicity in the suicide against Rhea, a parallel investigation also began on his alleged acquisition of drugs from his WhatsApp. chats.
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