Mumbai special court orders NCB to defreeze Rhea Chakraborty’s bank accounts, return gadgets

After over 14 months, a Mumbai special court has ordered the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) to defreeze the bank accounts of Rhea Chakraborty and return her electronic gadgets, the lawyer of the Bollywood actress said here on Wednesday.

Rhea had filed a plea seeking release of her gadgets like an Apple laptop and an iPhone, and access to her bank accounts, according to her lawyer Nikhil Maneshinde.

The gadgets were seized while the bank accounts were frozen by the NCB after her arrest last year in connection with the probe into the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

Special NDPS court judge D.B. Mane ordered the conditional release of the electronic gadgets on furnishing a bond of Rs 100,000, directing her not to sell or dispose of them till the case is pending and produce them whenever needed for investigation.

Similarly, Mane directed the NCB to defreeze her bank accounts and fixed deposits with the HDFC Bank, which were frozen vide a NCB notice to the bank dated September 16, 2020.

Rhea had stated in her plea that she needed access to her bank accounts to support herself, her family, pay the salaries of her staff and aides, pay taxes, etc.

The special judge noted that since there was “no strong objection” from the NCB investigating officer, Chakraborty was entitled to defreezing these accounts, and passed a conditional order to this effect.

Chakraborty was arrested by the NCB on September 9 last year for allegedly procuring drugs for Rajput, who was found hanging at his Mumbai home on June 14, 2020.

Later, even her brother Showik was nabbed along with several other glam-world personalities as multiple agencies like the Mumbai Police, Central Bureau of Investigation, Enforcement Directorate and NCB probed the case.

Subsequently, Chakraborty spent 28 days in custody before she was granted bail by the Bombay High Court on October 7, 2020.