Sushant Singh Rajput case: Coerced by NCB to implicate Dino Morea, Ranbir Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, says arrested film executive

Film executive Kshitij Ravi Prasad, who was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in connection with its probe into the alleged drug angle in Sushant Singh

Film executive Kshitij Ravi Prasad, who was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in connection with its probe into the alleged drug angle in Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case, told a special court on Saturday that he has been “coerced by the agency to falsely implicate Bollywood actors Ranbir Kapoor, Dino Morea, and Arjun Rampal”.

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“Subsequent to September 27, I have been repeatedly harassed and coerced into falsely implicating Dino Morea, Arjun Rampal and Ranbir Kapoor in the present proceeding despite me repeatedly stating that I don’t know the said persons and have no knowledge of such allegations,” reads the handwritten statement submitted by Prasad before the special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act court on Saturday.

In his plea, he has also claimed, “The NCB has been consistently threatening and coercing me to make statements against Karan Johar and other senior officers of Dharma Productions and that in the event I do not they would falsely implicate my wife and other family members.”

Prasad was remanded to judicial custody till October 6 by the court on Saturday. “During the hearing, the judge asked Prasad if he had any complaint. Thereupon, he went in the witness box and made the claim that he has been forced by the investigating agency to implicate Bollywood personalities,” his lawyer Satish Maneshinde said.

The NCB has denied all allegations made by Prasad. “The allegations are completely false. He has been arrogant and non-cooperative throughout his custody with us and that has been conveyed to the court. The court granted him judicial custody. Names of the mentioned persons do not figure in any of his statements. This is his feeble and frivolous attempt to divert the focus of the investigation,” NCB’s zonal director, Sameer Wankhede, said.

Prasad, who was in NCB custody till Saturday, was arrested on September 26 for allegedly receiving contraband from alleged peddlers who had allegedly supplied hashish to Showik and Rhea Chakraborty. The agency had claimed that Prasad’s role was revealed during the interrogation of Sanket Patel, one of the alleged drug peddlers. The agency had said that Patel told them that he had delivered ganja (weed) to Prasad at his residence in Andheri.