Justice S.V. Kotwal, who had completed the hearing in her bail application last week and kept his ruling in reserve, pronounced the order this morning.

 

Arrested on September 9 by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in a drug related case, Rhea has spent 28 days in custody till date. She was sent to extended judicial custody by a Special NDPS Court till October 20 on Tuesday.

 

Welcoming the court order, Maneshinde said, "Truth and justice have prevailed and ultimately the submissions on facts and law have been accepted by Justice Kotwal".

 

"The arrest and custody of Rhea was totally unwarranted and beyond the reach of law. The hounding and witch hunt by three Central agencies -- the CBI, ED and NCB -- of Rhea should come to an end. We remain committed to the truth. 'Satya Meva Jayate'," said Maneshinde.

 

Rhea, along with 19 others, including Showik, were arrested during August-September by the NCB in connection with the drugs angle which surfaced during the investigations of the late actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death case.

 

Among those nabbed include the Chakraborty siblings, Sushant's staffers Dipesh Sawant, Samuel Miranda, several drug peddlers, suppliers and persons linked with the film industry.

 

The others who were arrested till September-end are: Abbas Lakhani, Karan Arora, Zaid Vilatra, Abdul Basit Parihar, Kaizan Ebrahim, Anuj Keswani, Ankush Arenja, Kamarjeet Singh Anand, Sanket Patel, Sandeep Gupta, Aftab Ansari, Dwyane Fernandes, Suryadeep Malhotra, Chris Costa, Rahil Vishram and Kshitij R. Prasad.

 

Some of the accused have been granted bail, others remain in custody for varying periods as the NCB probe continues along with questioning of several leading actresses.