Narcotics Control Bureau files criminal case against Rhea Chakraborty, others
New Delhi: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Wednesday filed a criminal case against Rhea Chakraborty and others for their alleged dealings in banned drugs, officials said.
They said various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) have been pressed in the complaint filed by the federal anti-drugs agency on an official reference received from the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The alleged narcotics dealing links are connected to the criminal probe being conducted in the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, 34, who was found hanging at his duplex flat in Mumbai's Bandra area on June 14.
The NCB is now the third federal investigative agency probing this case apart from the ED and the CBI.
The ED, which is probing a money laundering angle into the death of Rajput, has questioned Rhea Chakraborty, and has obtained "deleted WhatsApp messages" allegedly indicating dealings in banned drugs from her phone.
Rhea has been questioned by the ED about these suspect drug deals and her statement on these allegations has been recorded by it under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), officials said.
Her lawyer Satish Manehsinde had vehemently denied the allegations made against the 28-year-old actor.
"Rhea has never consumed drugs in her life ever. She is ready for a blood test," Maneshinde had said.
She is the prime accused in this case and has stated in her petition before the Supreme Court that she was in a live-in relationship with the actor.
The ED had shared these alleged drug links with the CBI too.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
