Statements of Deepika Shraddha part of NCB charge sheet in Rajput case

    Mumbai, Mar 5 (PTI) Statements of Bollywood actors
Deepika Padukone, Shraddha Kapoor and Sara Ali Khan are part
of the charge sheet filed by the Narcotics Control Bureau
(NCB) in the drugs case linked to Sushant Singh Rajput's
death, an official said on Friday.
    Padukone, Kapoor and Khan, all prominent Bollywood
stars, were among those who had been questioned after the NCB
began to probe the case.
    Rajput's girlfriend and actor Rhea Chakraborty and her
brother have been named among the accused, the official said.
    After an over six-month-long investigation, the
Central agency on Friday filed a charge sheet running into
around 70,000 pages in a special court here. The bulk of it --
nearly 50,000 pages -- is in digital format.
    It includes statements over 200 witnesses, the
official said.
    The charge sheet names Anuj Keshwani and Azam Jumman
as main accused.
    Rhea Chakraborty has been charged with procurement of
drugs, facilitation and financing.
    The evidence against her brohter Showik includes voice
notes, WhatsApp chats, forensic lab reports, deleted messages
which were retrieved by the NCB, the official said.
    Besides WhatsApp, the accused were using other
messaging apps including Telegram too, the official said.
    The NCB has invoked various sections of the Narcotic
Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act in the case.
    Zaid Vilatra, Rahil Vishram, Kshitij Prasad, Agisilaos
Demetriades, Rigel Mahakal, Rishikesh Pawar, Jagtapsingh
Anand, Karanjeet Anand and Rahila Furniturewala are among
other accused named in the case.
    Apart from charges related to supply and procurement
of drugs, some of them are accused of financing illicit
trafficking and harboring offenders.
    The NCB began probing the alleged use of drugs in some
quarters in Bollywood after the death of Rajput (34) in June
last year. The central agency started its probe on the basis
of some WhatsApp chats having reference to drugs. PTI DC
KRK KRK

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)