Sushant Singh Rajput death: Australian national held in drugs case granted bail

A special holiday court held that there was not enough evidence to treat the accused, Paul Bartel, as a drugs supplier.

A special holiday court on Thursday granted bail to Australian national Paul Bartel who was held in connection with the drug trail linked to actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death.

Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) office at Ballard Estate. (PTI FILE)

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had arrested Bartel on Friday alleging that he was in touch with arrested accused and drug supplier Agisilaos Demetriades, a South African national and brother of actor Arjun Rampal’s girlfriend Gabriella.

On Thursday, Bartel’s lawyers Abad Ponda and Subhash Jadhav contended that the agency has no evidence to link him to the drug trail.

The agency has relied on the WhatsApp chat of Bartel with two other accused — Demetriades and Nikhil Saldahna, and claimed that Bartel is a drug supplier.

The court, however, noted, “In the absence of any substantial material, taking into account the fact that no contraband was recovered from the accused and except the statements of co-accused and WhatsApp messages, there is no substantial evidence to treat the accused as peddler/supplier of drugs; it may not be justified to refuse to extend the concession of bail.”