Actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s father on Thursday urged the Supreme Court to confirm the transfer of his son’s death case to the Central Bureau of Investigation, and direct the Mumbai Police to provide all assistance to the CBI, PTI reported. Krishna Kishore Singh alleged in a written submission to the Supreme Court that the Mumbai Police were not probing the matter properly.
Rajput was found dead in his apartment in Mumbai on June 14, in what the Mumbai Police said was a case of suicide.
The Bihar government and Rhea Chakraborty, Rajput’s girlfriend, also filed their written submissions before the court, on Chakraborty’s plea seeking transfer of the case to Mumbai. On August 11, the Supreme Court reserved its order in the transfer petition.
Krishna Kishore Singh has filed a first information report in Patna accusing Chakraborty of abetting Rajput’s alleged suicide. In his submission, Krishna Kishore Singh referred to various past judgements, saying it would be expedient in the interest of justice for the court to confirm that the reference to the CBI as justified, and ask the Mumbai police to help the central agency.
Singh alleged that the Mumbai Police were continuing with the inquest proceedings indefinitely, though it was important to prepare the inquest report immediately, to determine the cause of death and the possibility of any suspicious circumstances. He called the role of the Mumbai Police “dubious”, asserting that preliminary inquiry in the matter cannot continue for more than seven days. He also accused the Mumbai Police of not investigating his messages that said that Rajput was in some problem in the days before his death.
Singh claimed that since Chakraborty was questioned four days after Rajput’s death, she had had plenty of time to destroy evidence and influence witnesses in the case. Chakraborty’s transfer petition had become infructuous as Chakraborty had herself said that she wanted the case transferred to the CBI, he said.
Bihar Police’s submission
In its submission, the Bihar Police said that the Mumbai Police did not register any FIR on the actor’s alleged suicide, nor did it extend any support to the Patna Police for investigating the case. “It is apparent that it is on account of political pressure in the State of Maharashtra that neither the FIR has been registered by the Mumbai Police nor did they extend any cooperation to Bihar Police in discharging their obligation to conduct investigation expeditiously,” the Bihar government said.
The Bihar Police also told the Supreme Court that Vinay Tiwari, the police officer who reached Mumbai on August 2 to conduct inquiries in the FIR registered in Patna, was “virtually detained” in the “name of quarantine”, ANI reported. It added that the Mumbai Police ignored the Bihar inspector general of police’s request to remove Tiwari’s quarantine.
The Bihar Police also alleged that the four-member Special Investigation Team which had reached Mumbai on July 27 was not allowed to discharge its duty for the conduct of the investigation.
Chakraborty’s submission
In her submission to the court, Chakraborty said that the Bihar Police’s FIR is “completely illegal” and the state did not have jurisdiction to send the case to the CBI, NDTV reported. She added that she has no problem if the Supreme Court transfers the case to the central agency.
“Transfer to CBI is done with the motive of rendering the instant petition infructuous,” Chakraborty said, adding that the Bihar government sent the case to the central agency only to prevent the FIR from being transferred from Patna to Mumbai. The Bihar Police denied Chakraborty’s allegations, and claimed that the probe being carried out by the Mumbai Police is not valid or legal.
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