Mumbai, April 26, 2026 – A special Mumbai court has ordered the defreezing of four bank accounts belonging to actor Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik, and mother Sandhya, ruling that the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) failed to follow legal procedures.
The accounts at ICICI, Axis, and Kotak Mahindra banks were frozen in September 2020 during the NCB probe into alleged drug links connected to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Some accounts had been previously unfrozen in 2021, but these joint family holdings remained restricted, halting operations.
Special NDPS Judge UC Deshmukh approved the family’s applications filed by advocates Ayaz Khan and Zehra Charania. The court noted that under Section 68F(2) of the NDPS Act, freezing orders must be confirmed by a competent authority within 30 days, a step the NCB skipped. Without this, the freeze was deemed invalid.
“The power to freeze assets is not unregulated; it requires strict procedural compliance,” the judge observed, citing a Bombay High Court precedent. The ruling allows the accounts to operate per RBI rules, providing long-overdue relief after nearly six years.
Rhea Chakraborty’s lawyer Ayaz Khan welcomed the decision. “This upholds the rule of law. The family argued no incriminating transactions occurred, and procedural lapses made the freeze illegal,” Khan said. The NCB had opposed, calling Rhea an “active member of a drug syndicate,” but the court prioritized statutory timelines.
The case stems from Rajput’s death on June 14, 2020, which led to investigations into drugs and money laundering. Rhea was arrested but later granted bail in 2020. Public reactions on social media praised the verdict as a win for due process.
This development marks another chapter’s closure in the high-profile Sushant Singh Rajput case, emphasizing procedural safeguards in drug probes. It allows the Chakrabortys to access their funds freely, potentially aiding their recovery from years of legal battles.
