NCB junks Rhea's blood sample 'ploy', hints at hunting down peddlers

The Narcotics Control Bureau probing the drug angle in Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death has hinted at not collecting blood and nail samples of his girlfriend and prime accused Rhea Chakraborty instead identifying peddlers, who provided drugs to them on regular intervals would be the bigger focus of their probe.

This comes even as Rhea went for a series of interviews to TV channels, just hours ahead of her questioning by the CBI, and claimed those drug deliveries mentioned in three different chat transcripts between her and others were meant for Sushant alone.

In one of the interviews, Rhea expressed her desire to submit her blood sample for drug presence, as was earlier also mentioned by her lawyer.

However, a top NCB source told IANS: "This was a clever move as fresh samples can never detect presence of drugs in the blood after more than a week. The blood sample test is only effective if it is conducted within a week."

The source said: "It's already been more than two months. So the agency will get nothing from the blood samples."

After the alleged chats of Rhea with Sushant's Siddharth Pithani, Samuel Miranda, Jaya Saha and others emerged pointing at the drug angle in the case, lawyer Satish Maneshinde on behalf of Rhea claimed she has never ever in her life consumed drugs and was ready for a blood test.

An NCB source said: "Our prime focus is to identify the drug peddlers, suppliers and users, who provided those drugs to these people named in the case."

The source said that through peddlers, the agency will reach to the kingpin of drug suppliers.

The development comes days after the NCB registered a case against Rhea, her brother Showik, talent manager Saha, Sushant's co-manager Shruti Modi, and Goa based hotelier Gaurav Arya under Sections 20 (b) 28, 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

The NCB registered the case after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) wrote to it on Tuesday following the WhatsApp messages between Rhea and Shruti Modi, Miranda and Pithani came to light.

The NCB sources related to the probe said that the agency has prepared the list of 20 suspects over supply of drugs in the case including Gaurav Arya, Suved Lohia, Kwan Entertainment partner Jaya Saha, ex-Big Boss contestant Ejaz Khan, Farookh Batata, and Bakul Chandani, among others.

Sushant's sister Shweta Singh Kirti also shared the chats of screenshots of several WhatsApp chats from last year where actress Rhea and her brother Showik are seen ordering someone to get doobie. Doobie is a drug market pseudonym for cannabis cigarette.

In another conversation, Miranda sends photographs of blueberry kush while, Pithani confirms whether Sushant has got the doobs.

Shweta took to her unverified Twitter account to share screenshots from a WhatsApp group named "NIFW". The group members include names like Aayush SSR, Anandi SSR, Pithani SSR, Rhea and others.

While most of the people involved in these chats can be identified by their names, identity of the mobile owner remains a mystery.

"What are we to conclude?? #ArrestCulpritsOfSSR," Shweta captioned the screenshots.

Meanwhile, Rhea is being grilled by the CBI's SIT for the second consecutive day at the DRDO guest house, where the agency sleuths are staying in Mumbai since their arrival from Delhi.

The CBI team has been exempted from the mandatory quarantine by the BMC.

(Anand Singh can be contacted at anand.s@ians.in)

Tags: Cinema, Showbiz, Crime, Disaster, Accident