In the year 2020, Rhea Chakraborty has been making news on a regular basis. She had been through a lot and had even spent a few weeks in judicial custody. Now is a good time for Rhea Chakraborty because her bank accounts have been defrosted by a special court under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Act. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) reportedly blocked her bank accounts last year after she was charged with drugs following actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death in June.
Rhea Chakraborty filed a petition to defrost her bank accounts, claiming that she is an actor by profession and that NCB froze her accounts and FDs without justification on September 16, 2020, causing her significant unfairness and discrimination. Her petition also stated that she requires the account to pay her employees’ salaries as well as to fulfill various tax obligations, such as GST payments. Rhea went on to say that her brother is also reliant on her and that she finances her own lifestyle with the money in the bank, and that the accounts being frozen for ten months was causing prejudice and that they should be unfrozen.
Special Public Prosecutor Atul Sarpande, representing the NCB, objected to Rhea Chakraborty’s request, claiming that if the accounts are unfrozen, there is a strong risk that the money will be used for drug-related activities. As a result, he advocated for the application to be rejected. However, the case’s investigating officer advised that the issue should be left to the court’s discretion.
“From the reply of the investigating officer, it appears that there is no strong objection from the NCB side for refreezing Chakraborty’s bank accounts and FDs,” stated special judge DB Mane.
“In such circumstances, Chakraborty is entitled to defreeze the bank accounts and FDs subject to conditions and undertakings supported by an affidavit stating that during the pendency and conclusion of the case’s trial, she shall make the balance amount, as shown in the concerned account as of 16/09/2020, available for passing necessary orders, as and when required,” the judge continued. Rhea Chakraborty asked for the restitution of her Apple Macbook Pro laptop and iPhone in a separate petition. The court ordered that the devices be returned to Rhea on ‘Supurtnama’ after proper authentication and identification, as well as the execution of a Rs 1,000,000 indemnification bond.
