Producer Firoz Nadiadwala's wife Shabana Saeed granted bail after arrest for drug possession

A Mumbai court on Tuesday granted bail to Bollywood producer Firoz Nadiadwala's wife Shabana Saeed , arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) for drug possession. The accused was arrested on Sunday after ganja (marijuana) was found at her residence in suburban Juhu during a search by the NCB and sent to 14-day judicial custody by a court on Monday. She was granted bail by additional chief judicial magistrate A H Kashiskar on a personal bond of Rs 15,000. Arguing for bail, her lawyer Ayaz Khan submitted before the court that it is a case of seizure of a small quantity of drug. The woman was not a drug peddler, but a consumer and the maximum punishment which she could get for the offence on conviction is one year, Khan said. He told the court the accused is separated from her husband and has to look after her children. She had been arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. An official of the NCB had on Sunday said 10 grams of ganja were seized during the search. The apex drug law enforcement agency had claimed that the contraband was prima facie procured from one Wahid Abdul Kadir Sheikh alias Sultan, who was arrested earlier. Meanwhile, the NCB recorded the statement of Nadiadwala in connection with the drug seizure case on Monday. The NCB has so far arrested five persons, including Nadiadwala’s wife, during its latest crackdown on drug peddlers and their clients. A total of 727.1 gram ganja, 74.1 gram charas, 95.1 gram MD and Rs 3,58,610 in cash have been seized till now from the accused, an official had added. The probe into the alleged widespread drug use in Bollywood began after the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput in June. The central agency had earlier arrested Rajput’s girlfriend, actress Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik, some employees of the late film star and a few others under various sections of the NDPS Act. Chakraborty and some other accused are currently out on bail. (With inputs from Press Trust of India)