Mumbai, Jul 4 (PTI) The Bombay High Court on Monday granted bail to Siddharth Pithani, a former flatmate of Sushant Singh Rajput observing that no case was made out against him for illicit financing of drugs as the same was purchased from the late actor’s bank accounts.
A single bench of Justice Bharati Dangre noted that there are no reasonable grounds for believing that Pithani, arrested in a drugs case related to Rajput’s death, was guilty of financing the illicit traffic in narcotics/drugs.
“No case is made out against the applicant (Pithani) for financing the illicit traffic. The applicant has not provided money, but it was Sushant’s own money from which the contraband was purchased,” the high court said.
“The bank account of Sushant Singh refers to certain withdrawals on account of ‘pooja samagri’ but that was Sushant’s own money and the contraband was arranged for him by the said money. Prima facie, it appears that the applicant has not financed any transaction in which the contraband consumed by the accused was purchased,” it added.
The single bench granted bail to Pithani on a bond of Rs 50,000.
Pithani was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in May 2021 from Hyderabad. He is currently in judicial custody.
He had been booked under section 27 (A) (financing illicit traffic and harbouring offenders) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, among other charges.
Pithani had sought bail, claiming he was framed in a false case.
Rajput’s former girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty, who is already out on bail, is also an accused in the case.
Justice Dangre after perusing the statements of Rajput’s cook, attendant and driver noted that there is no evidence attributing the role of financing of drugs to Pithani.
“Even the statement of the third witness who was his (Rajput’s) bodyguard, also does not make any reference to the applicant (Pithani) financing the purchase of drugs/narcotics by Sushant Singh,” the bench said.
The bench noted that as per the NCB’s charge sheet, Pithani used to smoke ganja along with Rajput. “The method of purchasing ganja/charas by SSR appears to be transferring of the amount from one of his accounts to his other account in Kotak Mahindra Bank, from where the money was withdrawn and the contraband was purchased by several persons,” the order said.
Justice Dangre added that it was not the NCB’s case that Pithani had transferred his money to Rajput’s account which was then used to purchase contraband.
Rajput allegedly committed suicide in his Mumbai flat in June 2020.
Later, the NCB began a probe, based on some WhatsApp chats, into an alleged drug supply racket in the film industry.
The NCB had also arrested several people, including Rhea Chakraborty. Most of them are now out on bail. PTI SP GK NSK NSK
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.