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Centre accepts Bihar govt's CBI probe request in Sushant Singh Rajput's death case

Last Updated 05 August 2020, 09:45 IST

The Centre has accepted a recommendation by the Bihar government for a CBI probe into the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

A single-judge bench of Justice Hrishikesh Roy asked the Maharashtra government to inform the court by next week about the progress made in the case related to the mysterious death of the actor on June 14.

"As of now perhaps Mumbai police has registered case of unnatural death. The FIR in Patna has raised certain other issues also. This case has hogged too much of media time and attention. Sending a police officer to quarantine does not send a good message," the bench told senior advocate R Basant for the state government.

"Are you sending the right message?" the bench asked the counsel. It added that "so many eyes are on the Bihar police and Mumbai police and the courts. Please file a reply on the issues. Kindly ensure that everything is done in a professional manner."

The court was hearing a plea by actress Rhea Chakraborty for transferring the FIR lodged by Bihar police on June 25 on a complaint by Rajput's father K K Singh to Mumbai.

At the outset, Mehta submitted that the plea did not survive in view of the decision taken for a CBI probe into the matter. A notification in this regard would be issued soon, he said.

After hearing senior advocates Shyam Divan for Rhea, Vikas Singh for Rajput's father and Mukul Rohatgi for the Bihar government, the court refused to direct the authorities not to take any coercive action against the actress who was a live-in partner of the actor and was accused of cheating, illegal confinement and misappropriation of his funds.

Basant claimed Patna police had no jurisdiction in the matter. Singh claimed present plea has become infructuous after the decision to refer the matter to the CBI. He also said the Mumbai Police questioned so many people from the film industry but allowed the main witness, a friend of Rajput, who first saw the body, to go to Hyderabad. Divan said the Bihar police had no jurisdiction in the matter and the Mumbai police should be allowed to continue its investigation.

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(Published 05 August 2020, 07:18 IST)

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