Sushant case: Narcotics Control Bureau arrests late actor's personal staff member
Mumbai: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Saturday arrested Dipesh Sawant, a member of Sushant Singh Rajput's personal staff, in connection with a drugs probe linked to the actor's death, officials said.
The NCB said with the latest action, the total number of arrested in this "ongoing investigation" has risen to seven.
They said Sawant, who was being interrogated since 10 PM last night, has been arrested under sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act around 8 PM on Saturday.
"He was subjected to interrogation and confrontation with Showik Chakraborty, Samuel Miranda, Zaid Vilatra and Kaizan Ibrahim.
"His statement was recorded under section 67 of the NDPS Act and on the basis of enough corroborative evidence, he (Sawant) has been placed under arrest," a senior NCB officer said.
He will be produced before the local Esplanade court at 11 AM on Sunday, he said.
A senior NCB officer had earlier said Sawant's role was that of a "witness" in the case.
The federal anti-narcotics agency had on Friday arrested Showik Chakraborty (24), the brother of main accused in this case Rhea Chakraborty, and Samuel Miranda, Rajput's house manager.
Three of the seven arrested, Showik, Miranda and Vilatra (21), are in NCB custody, the agency said.
When the probe in the case began, the agency had arrested two men, Abbas Lakhani and Karan Arora, for alleged drug peddling and officials have claimed that through them they reached Vilatra and Abdel Basit Parihar who are allegedly directly linked to this drugs case as they were in touch with Miranda.
Miranda, they had said, used to allegedly procure drugs from them on the purported instructions of Showik, agency officials said.
Officials have said Rhea (28), Rajput's live-in partner, is expected to be summoned for questioning soon.
This case has given the NCB an "inkling" into the narcotics network and its penetration in Bollywood or Hindi movie industry, NCB Deputy Director General Mutha Ashok Jain told reporters outside the agency's office on Saturday.
Various angles surrounding the death of the 34-year-old actor are being probed by three federal agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The NCB is probing the drug angle in this case under criminal sections of the NDPS Act after the ED shared with it a report following the cloning of two mobile phones of Rhea.
Rajput was found dead at his flat in suburban Bandra area on June 14.
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SC stays UGC regulation pertaining to definition of caste discrimination
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed a recent University Grants Commission (UGC) regulation after various pleas were filed contending that the Commission adopted a non-inclusionary definition of caste-based discrimination and excluded certain categories from institutional protection.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi issued notices to the Centre and the UGC on the pleas challenging the regulation.
The new regulations mandating all higher education institutions to form "equity committees" to look into discrimination complaints and promote equity were notified on January 13.
The University Grants Commission (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026, mandated that these committees must include members of the Other Backward Classes (OBC), the Scheduled Castes (SC), the Scheduled Tribes (ST), persons with disabilities, and women.
The new regulations replaces the UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2012, which was largely advisory in nature.
The pleas assailed the regulation on the grounds that caste-based discrimination is defined strictly as discrimination against members of the SCs, STs and OBCs.
It said that by limiting the scope of "caste-based discrimination" only to SC, ST and OBC categories, the UGC has effectively denied institutional protection and grievance redressal to individuals belonging to the "general" or non-reserved categories who may also face harassment or bias based on their caste identity.
Protests were held at various places against the regulations, with student groups and organisations demanding its immediate rollback.
