What is NCB and what punishment Rhea Chakraborty may face, here's all you need to know

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Tuesday (September 8) arrested Rhea Chakraborty after three days of questioning in connection with a drug case linked to actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death. Rhea was produced before a magistrate via video conferencing and was remanded to 14-day judicial custody.

Earlier, the NCB had arrested Rhea's brother Showik and two personal staff of Sushant - Samuel Miranda and Deepesh Sawant - in connection with this case.

What is NCB?

1. The NCB is a federal law enforcement and intelligence agency under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 

2. NCB's primary role is to combat drug trafficking and the use of illegal substances under the provisions of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

3. The Narcotics Control Bureau was created on March 17, 1986 to enable the full implementation of The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.

4. The Director General of NCB is an officer of the Indian Police Service(IPS) or the Indian Revenue Service(IRS).

5. The NCB is outside the ambit of the Right to information Act under Section 24(1) of the RTI act 2005.

Rhea has been arrested under sections 8 (c), 27 (a), 28 and 29 of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS).

Here's what these sections mean and what penalties do they attract?

Section 8(c): This section of the NDPS Act states that produce, manufacture, possess, sell, purchase, transport, warehouse, use, consume, import inert-state, import into India, export from India or tranship any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance, except for medical and scientific purposes requires a license or permit by the concerned authorities. It also prohibits the cultivation of the cannabis plant and the production, possession, use, consumption, purchase, sale, transport, warehousing, import inter-state and export inter-state of ganja for any purpose. 

Punishment: Punishable with rigorous imprisonment which shall not be less than ten years which may extend to twenty years and shall also be liable for fine which shall not be less than one lakh rupees but may extend to two lakh rupees.

Section 20(b): The act reads, “produces, manufactures, possesses, sells, purchases, transports, imports inter-State, exports inter-State or uses cannabis, shall be punishable.”

Punishment: Punishable with rigorous imprisonment which shall not be less than ten years and fine which may extend to one lakh rupees.

Section 27(a): The NDPS act pertains to the consumption of any narcotic drug r psychotropic substance. This particular section prescribes the punishment for a person consuming a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance that includes cocaine, morphine, diacetylmorphine or any other narcotic drug/psychotropic substance.

Punishment: Punishable with rigorous imprisonment which may extend to one year or a fine may extend to twenty thousand rupees.

Section 28 and 29: These sections deal with the offences of attempting to commit offences, and for abetment and criminal conspiracy.