NCB suspends 2 IOs for no show in court in Bharti Singh case

PTI, Dec 3, 2020, 4:32 PM IST

Mumbai: The Narcotics Control Bureau has suspended two of its investigating officers after they failed to appear before a court here during the hearing of bail pleas of comedian Bharti Singh and her husband in a drugs case, an NCB official said on Thursday.

The two officers were conducting a probe into the drugs case in which Singh and her husband Harsh Limbachiya were arrested last month and later granted bail by a Mumbai court on November 23.

The two NCB officers and a public prosecutor failed to appear during the scheduled bail hearing of Singh and her husband, and during hearing on the anticipatory bail application of actress Deepika Padukone’s manager Karishma Prakash, the official said.

As the role of the investigating officers has been found to be “suspicious” in both the cases, an internal inquiry has been ordered and it is being conducted by the NCB’s Mumbai zonal unit, the official said.

Since the inquiry is on, the two NCB officers have been placed under suspension, he said.

“The role of the public prosecutor is also under scanner,” the official said.

The NCB has moved an application before a court here to challenge the bail granted to Bharti Singh and her husband, he added.

Singh was arrested by the NCB on November 21 and her husband was taken into custody the next day, after the probe agency recovered 86.5 gm ganja during search at the couple’s residence and office in Mumbai.

The couple was granted bail by a court here on November 23.

Earlier, On October 27, the NCB conducted searches at the residence of Karishma Prakash and recovered 1.8 gram hashish from there, during its probe into the alleged nexus between drug peddlers and Bollywood celebrities which came to light after actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death.

Prakash was summoned by the NCB probe team various times. She later moved court seeking anticipatory bail, sources said.