[NDPS Case] Siddharth Pithani, roommate of Sushant Singh Rajput, gets interim bail from Mumbai Court for getting married

A Special Court in Mumbai on Thursday granted interim bail to Siddharth Pithani, former roommate of Bollywood actor late Sushant Singh Rajput in a case under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. .Special NDPS Court judge VV Vidwans directed that Pithani be released on interim bail for a period of 15 days to attend his wedding upon executing a PR Bond and cash bail in the sum of Rs. 50,000. While on interim bail, he was directed to attend the office of the Narcotics Control Bureau from time to time. He was also directed to not tamper with evidence or influence witnesses and was also ordered to furnish the contact details of his friends or relatives.Pithani was directed to report back to the Mumbai NDPS Court on July 2, 2021 adding that no further extension of this interim bail would be granted. .Pithani was arrested by the NCB in the drug case being probed in connection with the death of Rajput and had been remanded to judicial custody till June 18, 2021.Pithani had earlier filed an application for bail on the grounds that he was getting married on June 26, 2021 and also annexed his wedding card with the bail application.The Special NDPS Court granted time to NCB to respond to Pithani's bail application. However on Thursday, Advocate Taraq Sayed filed an interim application for bail on behalf of Pithani. In view of the interim application, the bail application filed by Pithani was withdrawn..NCB opposed the grant of bail on the ground that investigation against Pithani was underway and important leads were coming to light and persons intercepted by him were yet to be investigated. Special Public Prosecutor Sethna for the NCB argued that "possibility of influencing such persons and/or tampering of evidence by the Applicant cannot be ruled out".Referring to judgments of the High Courts stating that Courts had no power to grant bail merely on the ground of illness or hospitalisation of the spouse or any other similar ground, he argued that marriage was an extraneous circumstance and should not be a factor for grant of interim bail..After hearing both the parties, the Court concluded that interim bail can be granted upon imposing certain conditions, clarifying that breach of any conditions would entail cancellation of the temporary bail or forfeiture of cash bail.[Read order]