On Saturday, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in Mumbai filed a 200-page charge sheet in a court against comedian Bharti Singh and her husband Haarsh Limbachiyaa. The duo was arrested in the year 2020 in a drug case and are currently out on bail.
The NCB in the year 2020 had arrested comedian Bharti Singh following seizure of ganja (cannabis) from her house in suburban Andheri. The NCB team led by the then zonal director Sameer Wankhede had conducted searches at Singh’s residence at Lokhandwala Complex as well as her production house based on a tip-off. The officials then recovered 86.5 grams of ganja from Singh’s house during the search.
Singh’s name had cropped up during the interrogation of a drug peddler. According to the NCB officials, the quantity of drug seized from Singh’s house was not commercial quantity under the act, as only 86.5 grams of ganja was recovered. As per the reports, up to 1,000 grams of ganja is viewed as a small quantity, attracting a six-month prison sentence and/or a Rs 10,000 fine. However, possession of a commercial quantity (20 kg or more) can result in up to 20 years in prison. The penalty for a quantity between 1000 grams and 20 kg is up to ten years in prison.
“Both Ms Bharti Singh and her husband Harsh Limbachiya accepted consumption of ganja,” NCB had said at that time in a press release.
The NCB has been investigating the suspected drug use in Bollywood since actor Sushant Singh Rajput died in 2020. Earlier, the central agency had arrested Rajput’s girlfriend, actress Rhea Chakraborty and her brother, some of the employees of the late film star, and a few others under various sections of the NDPS Act. However, Chakraborty and several other accused persons are currently out on bail.
Comedians Bharti Singh and Haarsh Limbachiyaa have appeared in many comedy shows and also have hosted several other reality shows on television. The duo currently are parents of a 6-months-old boy named Lakshya. The two have been booked under sections 20(b)(ii)(A) (involves the small quantity of drugs) and 8(c) (possession of drugs) and 27 (consumption of drugs) of the NDPS Act.