Sushant Singh Rajput death: Court extends interim protection to Karishma Prakash in drugs case

A special Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) court on Saturday extended interim protection from arrest to Karishma Prakash, former manager of

A special Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) court on Saturday extended interim protection from arrest to Karishma Prakash, former manager of actor Deepika Padukone, booked in connection with the drugs case linked to actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death.

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Prakash came under scanner after her name cropped up during the investigation. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had in the last week of October searched Prakash’s residence in Versova and recovered 1.7g hashish and three bottles of cannabidiol (CBD) oil.

Fearing arrest, Prakash, on November 2, moved an anticipatory bail plea before the special NDPS court. The court had on previous hearing granted her interim protection from arrest as NCB assured that it would not take any coercive action against her. Meanwhile, Prakash’s lawyer assured that she would cooperate with the probe and be present for interrogation. The agency so far has called her twice and questioned her on various aspects.

On Saturday, during the hearing, the agency submitted a reply on her plea and opposed the same, claiming she has not been answering questions. The hearing on Prakash’s plea is now scheduled for arguments on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the court extended interim protection till further hearing.

NCB has, so far, arrested 25 people in the case. It is alleged that Prakash was in contact with the peddlers arrested in the case. The anti-drugs agency had questioned Prakash on September 25 and 26 for approximately 12 hours as part of its probe into Rajput’s death.

Actor Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik, Rajput’s staffers Samuel Miranda, Dipak Sawant, alleged drug peddlers Zaid Vilatra and Abdul Basit Parihar were arrested in the course of the case.

Chakraborty was granted bail by the Bombay high court (HC) on October 7, while her brother’s bail application was rejected. Showik has now again approached the special NDPS court for bail, citing the recent Supreme Court (SC) ruling, which said that “confessional statements” made to NCB officers cannot be considered as evidence.