8 hard drives destroyed on day Rhea Chakraborty left Sushant Singh Rajput's house, Siddharth Pithani tells CBI

MUMBAI: Sushant Singh Rajput's friend and flat-mate Siddharth Pithani has told the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that eight hard-disks were destroyed on June 8 at the actor's Bandra flat, before Rhea Chakraborty left the house. 

According to reports, Pithani said that while the content of the hard-disks was not known to him, he claimed that IT professionals were called to erase files from the hard disks. He said the process was carried out in the presence of both Sushant, Rhea and his cook Neeraj and house help Dipesh Sawant.

Pithani added that the content was first copied before being deleted by the IT experts. He also informed the probe agency that Sushant and Rhea had a fight before she left the house on June 8 for good. 

Reacting on the claims, Sushant's father KK Singh's lawyer Vikas Singh said that he suspects a large conspiracy in connection with the death of the actor. "I think there’s something very sinister in this entire episode and it appears that there is the involvement of some big people in the case," Singh stated. 

August 27 was the fifth consecutive day CBI grilled Pithani in Sushant death case. 

Meanwhile, a team of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) is in Mumbai to probe the drug angle in connection with Sushant's death. On August 26, the NCB filed a criminal case against Rhea Chakraborty and others to probe their alleged dealings in banned drugs. The case has been registered under Sections 20, 22, 27 and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. 

The deleted messages, officials said, allegedly indicate dealings in banned drugs and chats about the procurement and consumption of these drugs that includes cannabis.

Rhea has been questioned by the ED about these suspected drug deal messages deleted from her phone and her statement on these allegations has been recorded by it under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). It is understood that the 'deleted WhatsApp messages' pertain to Rhea purportedly talking to her friends and some of Rajput's domestic helpers about certain banned narcotics.

The NCB, they said, will probe the possible 'source, trade, consumption and handling' of these banned drugs and their possible links to Rajput as well as his death, officials told PTI. The messages reportedly had references to the availability of 'best weed ever' in Bhubaneswar.