Narcotics Control Bureau junks Rhea's blood sample 'ploy', hints at hunting down peddlers

Rhea has denied ever taking drugs.

The Narcotics Control Bureau probing the drug angle in Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death has hinted at not collecting blood and nail samples of his girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty. Instead, identifying peddlers would be the bigger focus of their probe.
This comes even as Rhea went for a series of interviews to TV channels, just hours ahead of her questioning by the CBI, and claimed drug deliveries mentioned in three different chat transcripts between her and others were meant for Sushant alone.

In one of the interviews, Rhea expressed her desire to submit her blood sample for drug presence, as was earlier also mentioned by her lawyer.

However, a top NCB source said: "This was a clever move as fresh samples can never detect presence of drugs in the blood after more than a week. The blood sample test is only effective if it is conducted within a week."

The source said: "It's already been more than two months. So the agency will get nothing from the blood samples."

A source added, "Our prime focus is to identify the drug peddlers, suppliers and users, who provided those drugs to these people named in the case."

The source said that through peddlers, the agency will reach the kingpin of drug suppliers.

The development comes days after the NCB registered a case against Rhea, her brother Showik, and others under Sections 20 (b) 28, 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.