Sushant Singh Rajput case: Centre moves SC, seeks to be impleaded in Rhea’s petition

New Delhi, August 7: The Centre on Friday moved the Supreme Court seeking to be impleaded in a pending petition filed by Sushant Singh Rajput’s friend Rhea Chakraborty seeking transfer of the investigation in a case lodged in Patna over his death to Mumbai. The Bihar Police, meanwhile, in an affidavit filed in the top court, accused the Mumbai Police of “obstructing” the probe and “siding with” Chakraborty. 

In its application, the Centre informed the court that the CBI had taken over the probe and “that on the transfer of investigation of the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation, it is clear that the Union of India is a necessary and proper party to the present proceedings”. Taking up Chakraborty’s plea for hearing on August 5, the SC bench of Justice Hrishikesh Roy had asked all parties to file affidavits explaining their stand, The Indian Express reported.

In its affidavit, the Bihar Police said it had registered an FIR on the death of the actor based on a written complaint dated July 25 by his father Krishna Kishore Singh. The complaint alleged that Chakraborty came in contact with Rajput in 2019 “with a sole intention to grab crores of rupees” of his “hard earned money”, the affidavit said. The father claimed that Chakraborty “used to completely interfere in” Rajput’s life and accused her of “attempting to give impression to the deceased actor that he is suffering from mental illness for which he required treatment”. The complaint alleged that he was given “overdose of medicine” and that she tried to keep him away from his family.

The father also submitted that Rajput “wanted to leave film industry and do organic farming in Coorg, however” Chakraborty “started blackmailing” him “by saying that she will give his medical report to media and prove him mad after which he will not get any kind of work”. Singh also claimed that there was Rs 17 crore in the Kotak Bank account of the actor “an year ago” but “Rs 15 crore was transferred to accounts of person not connected with” him.

The Bihar Police also criticised their Mumbai counterparts for “forcible quarantine” of Vinay Tiwary, City SP, Patna, who had gone to Mumbai to coordinate the probe. This, it said, was “nothing but a result of afterthought on part of Mumbai Police aimed at obstructing the investigation by the Patna police… and casts a serious aspersion on the role of Mumbai Police who is apparently siding with” Chakraborty “for the reasons best known to them”.

The affidavit said the Mumbai Police had not supplied any document relevant for the probe, CCTV footage, etc, and had not even registered a cognizable case in connection with the death. It pointed out that even after the SC observation on August 5 that the quarantining of the officer does not send out a good message, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation did not accede to request to release him. As a preliminary investigation showed that the matter may have inter-state ramification, the Bihar DGP requested the state government to order a CBI inquiry, it added.

https://indianexpress.com/article/india/sushant-singh-rajput-case-centre-moves-supreme-court-rhea-chakraborty-petition-6544583/