CBI should tell if Sushant Singh Rajput's death was murder or suicide: Anil Deshmukh

Rajput was found dead in his apartment in Mumbai's Bandra on June 14 this year

Nearly six months of the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, the Maharashtra government on Sunday asked the Central Bureau of Invesitgation (CBI) to share details of the investigation and whether he had died by suicide or was murdered.

“The people of Maharashtra and the country are eagerly waiting for the CBI's report on its investigation into Sushant Singh Rajput's death. People are asking about the status of the case...I would request the CBI to reveal whether it was a suicide or murder," state’s Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said.

It has been nearly five months since the case has been handed over to the CBI. “It is time that the CBI come out with details and share the findings of its investigations,” Deshmukh said.

Sushant (34) was found hanging in his duplex flat at Mont Blanc building off the Carter Road at Bandra in Mumbai on June 14.

The Dr R N Cooper Municipal General Hospital in Vile Parle where the autopsy was conducted had found "asphyxia due to hanging" as the cause of death.

The Bandra police station in Mumbai registered an accidental death report (ADR) and recorded 56 statements during the investigation under Section 174 CrPC.

However, on August 19, the investigations were handed over to the CBI following an order of Supreme Court based on the plea of the Bihar government which has registered an FIR in Patna against Sushant Singh Rajput’s live-in partner Rhea Chakraborty and others for abetment to suicide and swindling off the actor’s money.

Sushant’s father Krishna Kishore Singh has lodged the FIR and later also asked the murder charge to be probed.

In fact, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi came under fierce attack from the BJP over the way it handled the case.

In October, reports from New Delhi suggested that Sushant had died by suicide based on the findings of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences’ Forensic Medical Board.

Multiple agencies were involved in the probe – while the CBI is investigating the death, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is probing a money-laundering angle and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) is probing a drugs-related angle.