Deepika and Sara, summoned in drugs probe, return to Mumbai
What's the story
Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone would fly back to Mumbai from Goa today, a day after being summoned in a drugs probe related to fellow actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death case. Furthermore, actors Sara Ali Khan, Shraddha Kapoor and Rakul Preet Singh have also been asked to appear before the Narcotics Control Bureau this week. Here are more details on this.
Twitter Post
Some footage from the Goa Airport
#WATCH Deepika Padukone along with Ranveer Singh arrives at Goa Airport, Panaji
— ANI (@ANI) September 24, 2020
According to NCB, Padukone has submitted to join the investigation on 26th September, in connection with a drug case related to Sushant Singh Rajput death pic.twitter.com/wN8bOcYn6s
Details
Deepika and her manager summoned tomorrow
Deepika, 34, an A-list actor, has been summoned tomorrow. Her manager Karishma Prakash has also been summoned. Karishma was questioned earlier as well. Notably, Deepika's name surfaced during the questioning of Sushant's talent manager Jaya Saha. In purported text messages recovered from Jaya's phone, Deepika and others had talked about procuring "maal" or marijuana and "hash" or hashish.
Sara
Sara to be questioned on Saturday
Further, Sara has been summoned to appear before the NCB on Saturday. The 25-year-old was today seen at the airport as she traveled to Mumbai with her mother, veteran actor Amrita Singh. Sara is the daughter of popular actor Saif Ali Khan. Sara is a former co-star of Sushant. In fact, she had debuted alongside the late actor in the 2018 movie Kedarnath.
Details
Shraddha Kapoor, Rakul Preet will also be questioned
Shraddha Kapoor, daughter of actor Shakti Kapoor, has also been asked to appear for questioning on Saturday. Meanwhile, Rakul Preet, who was asked to appear before the anti-drugs agency today, will now be questioned tomorrow. It has been reported that the names of Rakul and Sara had come up in this case during the questioning of arrested actor Rhea Chakraborty.
Case
Sushant had died by alleged suicide in June
Sushant, a 34-year-old Bollywood star, was found dead at his apartment in Mumbai's Bandra on June 14. The actor died by suicide and had been suffering from clinical depression and bipolar disorder, Mumbai Police had said. His family, however, contested claims of mental illness, and accused Rhea, his girlfriend, of mentally harassing him and driving him to his death.
Probe
Rhea's bail plea to be heard by HC today
On September 8, following days of questioning, Rhea was arrested by the NCB for procuring banned substances such as marijuana for the late actor. Her brother Showik, two staff members of Sushant, and a number of alleged drug peddlers have also been nabbed. Rhea is currently in judicial custody until October 6. Her bail plea has been deferred to September 29, today.
Developments
NCB officials to further question Showik, Dipesh Sawant
Earlier today, fashion designer Simone Khambatta was also questioned by the NCB for nearly five hours in Mumbai. Her name had reportedly cropped up during Rhea's investigation. Meanwhile, a team of NCB officials today obtained permission from the court to visit the Taloja jail to further question Showik Chakraborty and Sushant's staff member Dipesh Sawant there.