AIIMS forensic team report lacks credibility: Sushant Singh Rajput's family lawyer writes to CBI

Actor Sushant Singh Rajput's family lawyer Vikas Singh Wednesday claimed that the report submitted by the AIIMS forensic team "lacks credibility" and they have written to the CBI to constitute a fresh medical team to look into the case.

Demanding that the CBI investigate the conduct of the AIIMS team and probe "who all they have met in recent time", the senior advocate said Rajput's family will approach the court if a new forensic panel is not formed.

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The lawyer said only the CBI can ascertain whether Rajput's death was a case of suicide and that AIIMS has "no right" to say if it was suicide or hanging.

“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,” he said.

Rajput's family wrote to the CBI on Wednesday alleging "unprofessional conduct" by AIIMS director Sudhir Gupta in leaking a forensic report of the late actor and sought a new panel for fair and proper assessment of his death.

The letter, sent through advocate Varun Singh and settled by senior advocate Singh, claimed that the leaked report, if correct, amounts to drawing a “biased and boastful” conclusion from insufficient evidence.

It stated that despite repeated efforts to get a copy of the report, there has been no response from Gupta.

The family has objected to the AIIMS report saying Gupta-headed forensic team was not submitting a post-mortem report but was only to expressing its opinion on the findings of Cooper Hospital in Mumbai, where the actor's body was taken after he was found hanging.

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"Gupta has been giving media interviews about the sensitive case right from day one, questioning the Doctors of Cooper Hospital for dubious autopsy and Maharashtra Police for hurried post-mortem and contamination and non-preservation of scene of crime," the letter said, adding that there were several infirmities in the post-mortem report done at the Cooper Hospital.

Pointing infirmities, the letter said the post-mortem was done at night without there being any order of the Magistrate and the protocol was not followed as opined by several experts of forensic departments from all over the world.

"The videography of the post-mortem was not done. Sufficient viscera was not retained for future examination. The time of the death was not mentioned in the post-mortem report. The injuries on the body were not specified and thus there was no opinion expressed of the cause of such injuries.

"The leg which was fractured was not mentioned in the report. There were several other infirmities which could be pointed out by a genuine forensic examination but somehow the same have been left out by the AIIMS team as expressed by one of the doctors in his interview telecast by a TV channel," the letter alleged.

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It contended that Gupta recently got the incriminating content of the report, submitted to the CBI, leaked selectively to a couple of media houses, and irresponsibly commenting that the Sushant's death is “conclusively” a case of suicide and there is no foul play.

"Clearly the said leak is aimed at creating doubts in the mind of people, bailing out agencies who have not done their job as per rules and standard protocols, benefitting the culprits and derailing the course of ongoing investigation.

"The conduct of Dr Sudhir Gupta is unethical, unprofessional, in contravention of government service conduct rules and MCI guidelines. This criminal misadventure on his part has undermined public trust in a premier institution like AIIMS. It has created doubts in the minds of millions of people about the fairness of investigation," the letter said.

It said the forensic team of AIIMS has not given a categorical opinion on the flaws of the post-mortem done at the Cooper Hospital and have given a report which they were not supposed to do.

Therefore, the 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 said.

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“The AIIMS report, if at all, could have only specified the cause of death i.e. by hanging and could not have gone to say that it is a case of suicide because that is something which only the CBI can decide after a complete investigation in the matter.

The letter said CBI may also inquire into the circumstances that led Gupta to indulge in such unprofessional conduct that threatens to jeopardise the course of investigation and help wrong-doers escape the clutches of law.

The AIIMS medical board has ruled out murder in the case of Rajput's death and termed it "a case of hanging and death by suicide," the premier institute's forensic chief Gupta said on Saturday.

At the press conference, Singh claimed Gupta had earlier told him that Rajput's death was "200 per cent a case of strangulation" after seeing the pictures of his body which his sister had clicked.

Commenting on the bail granted to actress Rhea Chakraborty by the Bombay High Court, he told mediapersons bail has been given to her on the premise of a narcotics case against her, which is "very weak".

“The real question is whether or not she administered the drugs to Sushant without his knowledge. Did she tell doctors, to whom she took him for treatment, about his usage," he said.

Rajput, 34, who made his silver screen debut in the critically acclaimed ''Kai Po Che'' seven years ago, was found dead in his apartment in suburban Bandra in Mumbai on June 14.