The Kerala HC on Friday refused to stay the implementation of the draft Lakshadweep Development Authority Regulation 2021 (LDAR) and the Prevention of Anti-Social Activities Act (PASA) introduced by the Lakshadweep administration. A division bench of Justice K Vinod Chandran also asked the administration to respond to the petition challenging the LDAR and the PASA within two weeks. The court considered the petition filed by Congress member KP Noushad Ali. At the hearing, the Centre sought time to respond to the plea and the court allowed two weeks. Ali submitted that the LDAR is widely opposed by the residents of Lakshadweep as it would allow the administration to remove or usurp the small holdings of the islanders. He also alleged that PASA gives the power to the government to detain a person without any public disclosure for up to a year. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Friday arrested Siddharth Pithani in Hyderabad for his alleged involvement in the drugs procurement case linked to the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Confirming the arrest, a senior NCB official said Pithani would be produced before a competent court later on Friday. The accused, a flatmate of the actor, was among the four persons who were present at Sushant's Mumbai residence when his body was found on June 14 last year. In the same case, the NCB earlier arrested several persons, including Sushant's girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik, Sushant's housekeeping manager Samuel Miranda and staff member Dipesh Sawant, besides drug peddlers. The NCB has instituted the case based on the initial information shared by the Enforcement Directorate on text exchanges among the suspects and its own preliminary findings. Sushant's death is being probed by the CBI, which took over the case from the Patna Police in August last year. The police case had been registered on the basis of a complaint lodged by Sushant's father, K.K. Singh, alleging criminal conspiracy, wrongful confinement, abetment to suicide, cheating and theft. Ms. Chakraborty, her parents Indrajit and Sandhya Chakraborty, brother, Samuel and Shruti Modi were named as accused in the criminal case. Last year, the CBI had questioned Siddharth multiple times to determine the sequence of events leading to the incident.