Observing that till date, Deepika Padukone’s manager, Karishma Prakash, was not an accused in the drugs case probed by the Narcotics Control Bureau in the aftermath of Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide in 2020, a special NDPS court said that she had the right to get her passport renewed. The court directed the NCB to return her passport for the renewal. It asked Karishma to return the passport to the NCB after renewal. Karishma Prakash had been booked by the NCB after it allegedly found 1.7 gms. of hashish at her residence at Versova in Bombay.
After the celebrity manager moved a plea, the NCB strongly opposed it on grounds that she may not be available for further probe, may tamper with evidence and may repeat such offences. The court pointed out that no chargesheet had been filed against Karishma and that her arrest had been stayed by the Supreme Court.
In her plea, Karishma said that in 2021, the NCB conducted searches at her home in her absence and seized her original passport with three older ones that had expired. She added that as her passport had expired in December last year, her lawyer had requested the NCB in writing to return her original passport, but the agency did not respond.