Sushant Singh Rajput's family, lawyers interfering with investigation: Rhea’s counsel

The family of Sushant Singh Rajput and their lawyers are interfering and tampering with the investigation into his death, the counsel of the late Bollywood actor’s live-in partner Rhea Chakraborty said.

Advocate Satish Maneshinde, who represents Rhea and her brother Showik, said that the family and lawyers of SSR are raising doubts on the probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and report of All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS).

The statement of Maneshinde came on the day when the judicial custody of the Chakraborty sister-brother duo was extended by another fortnight till 20 October.

Rhea (28) and Showik (24) were arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) when WhatsApp chat surfaced vis-à-vis the drugs angle in the case during the investigations by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The bail applications of the Rhea and Showik, who have been accused of sourcing and purchasing drugs for Sushant, had been rejected by the Magistrate’s Court and Special NDPS court and are now pending before the Bombay High Court.

Maneshinde said that while the FIR registered in a police station in Patna by Sushant’s father Krishna Kishore Singh has been transferred to CBI, the complaint by Rhea against the actor’s sisters Priyanka Singh and Meetu Singh in Bandra police station has been forwarded to the CBI.

"CBI is independently and impartially investigating both the cases and the agency is supposed to be insulated and free from any interference,” Maneshinde said.

“It is disturbing to learn that the family of SSR and its lawyers are interfering and tampering with the investigations by bringing pressure on the AIIMS team of doctors by speaking to them during investigations and releasing purported audio recorded conversations and information to the media in order to bring pressure and tamper with potential witnesses,” he said.

“The SSR family lawyer (Vikas Singh) is supposed to have said that he is going to meet the CBI Director to get the family’s pre-determined path of investigations in SSR death. It is very disturbing to read such information in the media as attempts are being made to get a pre-determined result in the case,” he added.

Any further attempts to interfere and tampering in the investigations would be brought to the notice of the appropriate courts, Maneshinde said.

Meanwhile, in a related development, Priyanka and Meetu moved the Bombay High Court to get the FIR against them quashed. Rhea has accused them of administering medicines based on a bogus prescription.

"A bare perusal of the complaint and the FIR shows it does not make out any cognisable offence. The drugs that have sought to be allegedly given by Dr Tarun Kumar are not banned drugs", the petition said.