A senior NCB official requesting anonymity, said that the drug law enforcement agency has arrested Abdul Basit Parihar from the Bandra area here. The official said that the arrest was made after it started its investigation into the Sushant Singh Rajput case at the request of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after the drug angle came to the fore.

 

The ED in its request to the NCB said that there were various chats related to drug consumption, procurement, usage and transportation. The raids came in the wake of the arrest of two drug-peddlers in Mumbai three days ago as the NCB, along with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) burned the midnight oil to unravel the drug mafia connection with the celebrities.

 

The NCB on the intervening night of August 27 and 28 carried out raids in Mumbai and two persons, namely Abbas Lakhani and Karn Arora were arrested, and the seizure of 'bud' (curated marijuana) was affected from their possession.

 

The official said that the detailed network analysis and the follow up investigation, uncovered the linkages of Lakhani with one Zaid Vilatra.

 

"After due procedure and taking evidence on record, Vilatra was apprehended," the official said, adding that the NCB also recovered Rs 9.55 lakh and foreign currency $ 2,081, 180 British Pound and 15 Dirham was recovered from him.

 

The official further said that Vilatra disclosed the amount as proceeds of drug peddling. The official said, "During questioning Vilatra disclosed that he runs an eatery shop in Bandra, which was not giving any pecuniary gains since lockdown."

 

The official said that Vilatra also disclosed that he is into drug peddling, especially bud, through which he used to earn a substantial amount of money. "Based on Vilatra interrogation, Parihar was made to join the investigation. It was learnt that linkages of Parihar with the earlier accused persons on preliminary inquiry based on the details submitted by the ED, were found," the official said.

 

NCB source said that Parihar had connections with Samuel Miranda, who was also the close associate of Rhea Chakraborty. Miranda is accused of procuring drugs on the instructions of Rhea's brother Showik.

 

The development comes days after the NCB registered a case against Rhea, her brother Showik, talent manager Saha, Sushant's co-manager Shruti Modi, and Goa based hotelier Gaurav Arya under Sections 20 (b) 28, 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

 

The NCB registered the case after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) wrote to it on Tuesday after the WhatsApp messages between Rhea and Shruti Modi, Miranda and Pithani came to light.