Bihar govt recommends CBI probe into Sushant Singh Rajput's death case

Amid a standoff between Mumbai Police and Bihar Police over probe into the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, the Nitish Kumar Government on Tuesday recommended CBI inquiry to unravel the truth.

The move comes close on the heels of Sushant's father K K Singh having a telephonic conversation with the Bihar DGP Gupteshwar Pandey on Tuesday morning. "Since Singh, who has lodged an FIR in Patna to probe into his son's death case, demanded CBI probe, we have today recommended an inquiry by the premier investigating agency," said Chief Minister Nitish Kumar here on Tuesday.

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Singh had earlier lodged an FIR in Patna on July 25 in which he had charged actress Rhea Chakraborty, alleged girl-friend of Sushant, with abetment to suicide. "An FIR was registered in Patna on July 25 where Rhea was charged under various sections including Section 306 (abetment of suicide), 341 (wrongful restraint), 342 (wrongful confinement) 380 (theft in a dwelling house), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating and dishonesty including delivery of property)," a senior police officer told Deccan Herald.

Based on the FIR, a four-member Bihar Police team was sent to Mumbai last week to collect case diary and other important documents. The team was also asked to probe Sushant's father charges that Rs 15 crore was withdrawn from his bank account. However, there was a tussle between the Mumbai Police and the Bihar cops over the jurisdiction of death case after Maharashtra top cop wondered "under what relevant sections Bihar Police would probe the matter when the death occurred in Mumbai."

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Eventually an IPS officer Vinay Tiwary was sent from Patna to Mumbai to facilitate the probe. But he was home quarantined on Sunday (August 2) soon after landing at Mumbai airport and kept at a guest house in Goregaon. The matter snowballed into a huge controversy on Monday when Nitish himself took strong exception to such incident. "This is not fair," he remarked while entering Gyan Bhavan, where a one-day Bihar Assembly session was convened.

During the session, the ruling party as well as the Opposition joined hands to demand CBI probe into the matter. "The nation wants to know the truth as to how and why Sushant died by suicide," said Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav, backing the demand of BJP MLA Neeraj Kumar, cousin of Sushant, for a CBI inquiry.

On Tuesday, Nitish ordered a CBI probe, although the Supreme Court is slated to hear the Sushant case on Wednesday.