The Mumbai Police on Saturday accused the Central Bureau of Investigation of taking over the probe into actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death with “indecent haste”, Bar and Bench reported.
The police made the accusation in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, in response to actor Rhea Chakraborty’s petition to transfer the case filed against her in connection with Rajput’s death in Bihar to Mumbai. The Mumbai Police said that CBI should have waited for the top court’s order on Chakraborty’s plea before taking over the case.
“Suffice it to say that, the indecent haste with which the CBI has proceeded in this regard speaks for itself, regarding the bonafides of all involved in this exercise,” the Mumbai Police said in their affidavit.
The Mumbai Police also alleged that the registration of the FIR in the case by the Bihar police was politically motivated and violated “the principles of federalism enshrined in the Constitution”, according to PTI. They added that Bihar could have only registered a “Zero FIR” (crime not falling in its jurisdiction) in the case and it did not have any legal jurisdiction to transfer the inquiry to the CBI.
The Mumbai Police added that they had been carrying out their investigation in the case impartially, The Indian Express reported. The Bihar government had on Thursday accused the city’s police of helping Chakraborty and hindering the investigation.
In its affidavit, the police also denied allegations that its quarantining of Indian Police Service officer Vinay Tiwari, who was sent to Mumbai from Bihar to investigate Rajput’s death, was a move to obstruct the investigation, NDTV reported.
The CBI took over the inquiry into Rajput’s death on Wednesday as the Centre accepted the Bihar government’s recommendation to involve the investigation agency in the case.
In July, Rajput’s father Krishna Kumar Singh had filed an FIR against Chakraborty, accusing her of cheating his son and driving him to suicide. His FIR alleged that Rs 15 crore was siphoned off from Rajput’s account in one year “to bank accounts of persons not known or connected to the late actor”. Chakraborty appeared for questioning before the Enforcement Directorate on Friday.
Rajput was found dead in his apartment in Mumbai on June 14, in what the Mumbai Police said was a case of suicide.
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