Sushant Singh’s family tells CBI that AIIMS report on actor’s death is biased, incorrect

The family of Sushant Singh Rajput on Wednesday wrote to the Central Bureau of Investigation, lodging their strong protest against the findings of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences panel, which ruled out that the actor was murdered, ANI reported. The family, through its lawyer Vikas Singh, asked the investigative agency to form a fresh medical board to once again review the “dubious” autopsy reports.

In a medico-legal opinion submitted to the CBI last week, the six-member team of forensic doctors dismissed allegations of “poisoning and strangling” and confirmed that Rajput’s death was “a case of hanging and death by suicide”. However, the CBI has not issued an official statement on the report so far.

“There were no injuries on the body other than [that] of hanging,” Dr Sudhir Gupta, chairperson of AIIMS Forensic Medical Board had said. “There were no marks of struggle/scuffle on the body and clothes of the deceased. It is a case of hanging and death by suicide.”

Rajput’s family has rejected the findings of the medical board and said their report was “biased” and based on insufficient evidence. “AIIMS was not doing a postmortem report but was only to express its opinion with regard to the postmortem report done by the Cooper Hospital as AIIMS did not have the privilege of examining the body of Sushant Singh Rajput and forming a firsthand opinion about the cause of death,” the family’s lawyer Vikas Singh wrote, referring to the Mumbai hospital which had carried out the postmortem.

The letter added that the family made repeated attempts to access the panel’s report, but claimed there was no response from AIIMS forensic chief Sudhir Gupta. They also accused Gupta of being “unethical and unprofessional” and said the “criminal misadventure” on his part has created “doubts in the minds of millions of people about the fairness of the investigation”.

The family’s lawyer further claimed that Gupta had initially questioned the Cooper Hospital doctors for “dubious autopsy” and even raised concerns regarding the investigation conducted by the Mumbai Police. But recently, the letter added, Gupta has “selectively leaked to a couple of media houses incriminating content of the report submitted to CBI, irresponsibly commenting that the death of Sushant Singh Rajput is ‘conclusively’ a case of suicide and there is no foul play”.

“This matter needs to be referred to another forensic team to be constituted by CBI by picking up some of the best names in the field from different hospital so that a fair and proper assessment takes place,” the letter read.

Rajput’s family’s lawyer claimed that the AIIMS forensic report “lacks credibility”, and called for a CBI inquiry of the team and “who all they have met in recent time”, reported PTI. The lawyer further said that only the CBI had the right to proclaim the case a suicide and not the AIIMS. “We want to take all steps to ensure that a fair probe is conducted and we will even go to the court for formation of a new panel and get justice,” the lawyer added.

Rajput was found dead in his apartment in Bandra on June 14, in what the Mumbai Police said was a case of suicide. The Central Bureau of Investigation had taken over the inquiry from the Bihar Police in an abetment to suicide case filed by the actor’s father KK Singh in Patna against actor Rhea Chakraborty and her family.

After a drug angle emerged in the case, the Narcotics Control Bureau arrested Rhea Chakraborty and her brother Showik Chakraborty for their alleged role in procuring drugs for Rajput. The agency described Rhea Chakraborty as an “active member of a drug syndicate”.

On Wednesday, the Bombay High Court granted bail to Rhea Chakraborty on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh. The High Court also accepted the bail pleas of Samuel Miranda and Dipesh Sawan, the domestic workers of Rajput. The court, however, rejected the bail pleas of Abdul Parihar and Rhea Chakraborty’s brother Showik Chakraborty.