Defreeze bank accounts of actor Rhea Chakraborty and kin, says Mumbai court A special court for Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) in Mumbai on Saturday ruled to defreeze several bank accounts belonging to actor Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik, and their mother Sandhya. The court, presided over by Judge U C Deshmukh, determined that the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had failed to comply with mandatory procedural safeguards under the NDPS Act. The siblings are implicated in a drugs case linked to the 2020 death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. The court’s order emphasized that Section 68F of the NDPS Act requires any freeze or seizure of property to be confirmed by a competent authority within 30 days of the initial order. Judge Deshmukh noted that the NCB had not followed this procedure, rendering the freeze invalid. The ruling allowed the Chakrabortys to operate their bank accounts in accordance with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regulations. The case revolves around the freezing of accounts held by Rhea, Showik, and Sandhya, including joint savings accounts at ICICI Bank, a personal savings account at Axis Bank, and a current account at Kotak Mahindra Bank. The Chakrabortys argued that the NCB’s actions violated statutory timelines, as no confirmation order was issued within the required 30-day window. They also highlighted that their accounts had been frozen in September 2020 following their arrests, despite no transactions occurring since 2019. In a separate plea, Rhea and Showik sought to remove the name of their company, Vividrage Rhealityx Pvt Ltd, from the Register of Companies. They claimed the bank had refused to process the closure of the corporate account due to the NCB’s freeze.#ncb #rhea_chakraborty #showik_chakraborty #sandhya_chakraborty #judge_u_c_deshmukh
Sameer Wankhede Denies Seeking Bribe from Shah Rukh Khan in Aryan Khan Case The legal proceedings in the high-profile cruise drugs case involving Aryan Khan took a new turn as Sameer Wankhede, a former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officer, appeared before the Bombay High Court. Wankhede testified that he never demanded or accepted a bribe from Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan to avoid implicating Aryan Khan in the 2021 incident. The case, which has drawn significant public and media attention, centers on allegations of corruption and bribery against Wankhede and others. During the hearing, Wankhede’s counsel, Aabad Ponda, argued that the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) FIR against Wankhede is based on fabricated claims. Ponda emphasized that there is no evidence to support the accusation that Wankhede sought a Rs 25 crore bribe from Shah Rukh Khan. The plea filed by Wankhede seeks to quash the FIR registered by the CBI in May 2023, which alleges that he and others demanded a bribe to shield Aryan Khan from legal consequences. The CBI’s FIR, filed on May 11, 2023, claims that Wankhede, along with former NCB SP Vishwa Vijay Singh and others, demanded Rs 25 crore from Shah Rukh Khan in exchange for not implicating Aryan Khan. The alleged amount was later reduced to Rs 18 crore, according to the agency. However, Wankhede’s defense team contested these claims, asserting that the raid on the Cordelia cruise ship was conducted lawfully based on a tip-off and followed proper legal procedures. Aryan Khan was arrested on October 3, 2021, following the controversial raid off the Mumbai coast. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) later cleared him of involvement in a larger drug trafficking conspiracy, issuing a clean chit on May 27, 2022.#cbi #shah_rukh_khan #sameer_wankhede #aryan_khan #ncb
