Days after the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) booked Goa-based hotelier Gaurav Arya in a drug case, he appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday for questioning in connection with the money laundering probe related to the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

According to a senior ED official, Arya, the owner of Hotel Tamarind and Cafe Cotinga in Goa, is being questioned about his alleged chats with Sushant's girlfriend Rhea, where the two are discussing drugs.

The ED official said that he is also being asked about financial dealings with Rhea and her brother Showik.

On Sunday, Arya claimed that he had never met Sushant while he met Rhea once in 2017.

He also said that he has no connection with the Sushant case.

Last week, after Arya's name cropped up in a social media message, an ED team visited Hotel Tamarind in Anjuna, north Goa, but the property was shut owing to the Covid pandemic restrictions.

The ED has till date questioned Rhea, her brother Showik, father Indrajit, Sushant's flatmate Siddharth Pithani, house manager Samuel Miranda, Sushant's ex-manager Shruti Modi and others.

The ED has also recorded the statement of Sushant's father K.K. Singh and his sisters Meetu Singh and Priyanka Singh.

The ED had registered a case of money laundering on July 31 on the basis of the Bihar Police FIR filed on the complaint of Sushant's father.