Sushant Singh Rajput case: NCB seizes Deepika Padukone’s phone

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), which quizzed Bollywood actors Rakul Preet Singh, Deepika Padukone, her former manager Karishma Prakash, and fashion designer Simone Khambatta on Friday and Saturday in connection with the drugs case related to the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, has seized their mobile phones.

An NCB source said, “The phones of Deepika, Karishma, Rakul and Khambatta have been seized by the NCB under the Indian Evidence Act.”

The development came after the questioning of Padukone and Prakash on Saturday, and Singh and Khambatta on Friday for several hours. The NCB questioned Padukone for over five hours on Saturday and Singh for over four hours on Friday. Meanwhile, Prakash was questioned for two consecutive days on Friday and Saturday, while Khambatta was grilled on Friday.

The agency collected their phones as the alleged ‘drug’ chats were made using the same phones, the source said. The source also said that the NCB has collected the phone of Rajput’s former talent manager Jaya Saha. The NCB also questioned Bollywood actors Shraddha Kapoor and Sara Ali Khan on Saturday for several hours.

The NCB has registered a case on the request of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after it found alleged chats of Padukone with her former manager in 2017 discussing drugs. The phones of Singh and Khambatta were seized as both of them are close friends of Rajput’s girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty, who was arrested earlier this month after three days of questioning. Besides Chakraborty, the NCB has also arrested her brother Showik and 17 others in connection with the case.