Rhea Chakraborty's Arrest "Important Step", Says Bihar Government

The ruling NDA in Bihar on Tuesday asserted that Rhea Chakraborty's arrest by Narcotics Control Bureau was "an important step" in the direction of securing justice for Patna-born actor Sushant Singh Rajput whose death has struck an emotional chord with the people of the state.

The JD(U)-BJP alliance also lambasted the actress for lodging a "baseless" FIR against the sisters of the dead actor and questioned the "support" extended to her by the Uddhav Thackeray government in Maharashtra, for "reasons the Shiv Sena knows better".

Bihar police chief Gupteshwar Pandey also reacted with an air of vindication on the development.

"Rhea has finally been arrested. We have been seeking a CBI inquiry into the case since the very beginning as the Maharashtra government and the Mumbai police seemed intent on driving the probe in a wrong direction."

"ED too has lodged a case against the actress and investigations seem to have opened a can of worms", BJP spokesman Nikhil Anand said in a statement.

He expressed confidence that the CBI will ultimately crack the case and ensure justice for the late actor.

On Rhea Chakraborty filing an FIR against Sushant Rajput's sisters, Mr Anand said, "Rhea Chakraborty has exposed herself by doing this. The development flies in the face of her professed love for the actor, whose father had leveled serious allegations against the actress in the FIR he had lodged at Patna."

The BJP spokesman, whose party had been an ally of the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra for more than two decades until the exit of the Uddhav Thackeray-led party from the NDA last year, also launched a stinging attack on its spokesman Sanjay Raut.

"In the Sena mouthpiece Saamna, Raut had been coming out in support of Chakraborty and making appalling observations about the bereaved family of Rajput. This shows that the Shiv Sena did not want that the truth be out in the case, for reasons it knows better", he added.

The JD(U), headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, also expressed satisfaction over the arrest of the actress and said it hoped that the investigations will wipe Bollywood clean of many ills that plague the Hindi film industry.

"Our government agreed to launch an investigation and, later hand it over to the CBI, because the bereaved father had requested the same and also in view of the fact that the probe taking place in Mumbai did not inspire faith."

"The CBI inquiry has virtually exposed the dark underbelly of Bollywood, including the close links between narcotics traders and celebrities", JD(U) spokesman Rajiv Ranjan Prasad said.

Mr Prasad also said that Chakrabroty's FIR, lodged a few hours ahead of her arrest and accusing the Sushant Rajput's sisters of administering narcotics to him were ample proof that "she is rattled by the CBI inquiry and the consequences it may have for her given her suspected complicity".

The NDAs another partner in Bihar, Lok Janshakti Party, also hailed the arrest of the actress.

LJP president Chirag Paswan, who was among the first politicians in Bihar to demand a CBI probe into the death of the actor, tweeted, "NCB today arrested Rhea Chakraborty in a narcotics matter. This development would silence all those who had been standing in her support".

Mr Paswan also added the hashtagjusticeforSushantSinghRajput.

The 34-year-old actor was found hanging from the ceiling of his Bandra residence on June 14. More than a month later, an FIR was lodged at the local police station here by his father KK Singh who resides in Rajiv Nagar locality of the city.

Investigation launched by the Bihar police had raised the hackles of the administration in Maharashtra where the government came out in support of Rhea Chakraborty's contention, made before the Supreme Court, that since the death had taken place in the western state, the actors home state had no jurisdiction in the matter.

Things reached a flashpoint when an IPS officer from Patna, who was sent to Mumbai to head the investigating team, was forcibly quarantined hours after landing in the metropolis, in a move that was seen as an attempt to sabotage the investigation.

Exasperated over the stalemate, Mr Singh requested that the probe be handed over to the CBI, which was promptly granted by the Nitish Kumar government.

Bihar DGP Gupteshwar Pandey who has ruffled many feathers in the recent past with his outspokenness, reacted with an air of vindication.

"Rhea Chakraborty's arrest proves that she has some links with drug peddlers and that she is not without blemishes. Moreover, the Mumbai police carried out its investigation in a manner that could not inspire faith and when we tried to probe the matter hurdles were put in our way."

"I am now confident that the mystery surrounding the death of Sushant will be unfolded and truth will come out," he said.