Mumbai (Maharashtra): A Mumbai court on Monday granted bail to comedian Bharti Singh and her screenwriter husband Haarsh Limbachiyaa, who were arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau following seizure of cannabis from their property.
Earlier yesterday, the court had remanded the couple to judicial custody till December 4.
The couple filed bail pleas through advocate Ayaz Khan soon after being remanded to judicial custody.
The NCB arrested Singh on Saturday and her husband early on Sunday following seizure of ganja (cannabis) from their house in suburban Andheri.
The couple was produced before a magistrate court in Mumbai on Sunday afternoon.
Read: Bharti Singh, husband remanded to judicial custody till Dec 4
The magistrate accepted the arguments and noted that custodial interrogation was not required and that the accused have already been questioned for a considerable time on Saturday.
Singh and Limbachiyaa have been booked under sections 20(b)(ii)(A) (involves small quantity of drugs) and 8(c) (possession of drugs) and 27 (consumption of drugs) of the NDPS Act.
In their bail pleas, Singh and Limbachiyaa have requested to be released claiming that since they do not have any criminal antecedents, there is no question of them absconding.
Possession of ganja up to 1,000 gms is considered a small quantity, which attracts jail term up to six months and/or fine of Rs 10,000. Possession of commercial quantity-- 20 kg or more-- can attract up to 20 years imprisonment.
Read: NCB arrests comedian Bharti Singh in drug case
For any quantity in between, the punishment can be as much as 10 years in jail, an official said.
The NCB has been probing alleged drug use by the Bollywood fraternity after the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput in June. The central agency had arrested Rajput's girlfriend, actress Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik, some employees of the late film star and a few others in a drugs-related probe.
Rhea Chakraborty and a few other accused were granted bail by the Bombay High Court in October. Showik's bail plea was rejected by the High Court.
Singh has appeared in a number of comedy and reality shows on television and also hosted a few such shows.
Complaint against Bharti Singh over racist remarks
Aruna Raghunath Kakar, the deputy chairperson of Thane's Murbad Panchayat Samiti, had lodged a complaint against actress Bharti Singh at the Murbad police station against her over racist remarks against the tribal community in a TV show 'Khatra Khatra' on Colors (HD) channel.
She also added, "We, as a tribal community, are publicly protesting against this act and we are witnessing a wave of outrage in the tribal community due to the misconduct of actress Bharti Singh."
About Bharti Singh
Bharti Singh is a popular comedian and actress. She was born on July 3, 1980. She is from Punjab and was married to author Harsh Limbachiyaa in 2017. She started her career with 'Indian Laughter Challenge'. Her character Lalli was very famous.
Bharti Singh has acted in Comedy Circus, Comedy Circus Mahasangram, Comedy Circus Ka Jaadu, Kahani Comedy Circus Key and Comedy Nights Bachao, Jubilee Comedy Circus. She has also acted in Pyaar Mein Twist. In addition to this, she has hosted many events.
Deepika Padukone's manager questioned
Actress Deepika Padukone's former manager Karishma Prakash was questioned by the NCB. The NCB had earlier recorded Karisma Prakash's statement in September. Apart from Deepika, the NCB has also questioned Bollywood actresses Shraddha Kapoor and Sara Ali Khan in a drug-related case while probing Sushant's death. The NCB also confiscated the phones of the three actresses and sent them to the forensic department for investigation. Sushant was found dead on June 14 in his flat in Mumbai. His death is being investigated by the NCB, CBI and ED.
Feroze Nadiadwala was also summoned
Earlier, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) raided the house of Bollywood producer Feroze Nadiadwala and seized drugs. Bollywood actor Arjun Rampal and his girlfriend Gabriel were also summoned by the Narcotics Control Bureau for questioning recently.
(With inputs from PTI)
