Judicial custody of Dharma Productions' ex-associate extended in drugs case

Following hours of questioning and searches at his home, Prasad was arrested on September 26 by the central anti-drugs agency.

He was subsequently sentenced to judicial custody for seven days until October 3.

On Saturday, he was produced before a special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) court, and the NCB sought an extension of his custody for further investigation.

Meanwhile, in his statement before the court, Prasad alleged he was forced by the NCB to "falsely implicate" actors Ranbir Kapoor, Dino Morea and Arjun Rampal in the ongoing drugs case.

Earlier, following his arrest, he had claimed he was being "framed" and added he had been "harassed and blackmailed" by NCB officials to implicate Karan Johar.

The agency has denied all these allegations.

Karan, however, has distanced himself from this case.

He said the allegations that he had hosted a "drug party" were "baseless and false."

The filmmaker also said he did not personally know Prasad and Anubhav Chopra, another former associate of Dharama Productions who was questioned by NCB.

"Neither l, nor Dharma Productions can be made responsible for what people do in their personal lives."

The NCB had launched a probe in this case after another agency investigating Sushant's death found WhatsApp messages that hinted at drug use.

Sushant was found dead at his apartment in Mumbai on June 14. He died by suicide and had been suffering from depression, cops had said.

His family, however, accused his girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty of harassing him and driving him to suicide.

Last month, Rhea was arrested by the NCB.

Her brother Showik, two employees of Sushant and a number of alleged drug peddlers have also been held in this case.

Rhea and Showik have been accused of organizing drugs for the late actor. Both of them are currently imprisoned.

On Tuesday, the Bombay High Court reserved its order on bail petitions filed by them.

In fact, three top Bollywood actresses, viz. Deepika Padukone, Shraddha Kapoor and Sara Ali Khan were questioned last week.

Apart from the NCB, the CBI is probing the circumstances that led to Sushant's death, while the Enforcement Directorate is investigating allegations of money laundering.

On a related note, a team of doctors from Delhi's AIIMS has ruled out possibility of murder in the case.