– Manas Dasgupta
MUMBAI, August 21: Even as the Mumbai police continued its investigation claiming that the Supreme Court has not debarred it, the CBI stepped in on Friday initiating probe into the unnatural death of the Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput at his Bandra residence on June 14.
A 10-member team of the central agency including the forensic experts, which had reached Mumbai, the scene of the incident, on Thursday evening, took over the relevant documents and reports from the Mumbai police it had collected during its investigations into the case so far and is learnt to have lined up several key witnesses, including the five doctors who had conducted the autopsy on Sushant’s body, for questioning. Unlike in the case of the Bihar police, the CBI team was exempted from the mandatory 14-day quarantine required under the COVID-19 protocol, a Mumbai municipal corporation spokesman said.
The documents collected from the Mumbai police included the case diary, Sushant’s phone and laptop and other forensic data. While questioning the five doctors of the Cooper Hospital, where the post-mortem was carried out, they are also likely to be asked about the presence in the hospital the next day of his friend Rhea Chakraborty and how was she given access to the mortuary. Sushant’s family lawyer Vikas Singh, who represented his father K K Singh in the court, has claimed that Rhea had no legal status to visit the morgue and the Mumbai police was required to give explanation in this regard.
According to the CBI sources, the team interrogated Rajput’s cook at the DRDO and IAF guest house in suburban Santa Cruz, where they are staying. Eye-witnesses said a vehicle ferrying the cook and a CBI official was spotted entering the guest house complex. Apart from recording the statements of people connected with the case, the CBI was also expected to scan the financial transactions lately made by the deceased in the light of the inquiry being carried out by Enforcement Directorate suspecting monetary angle in his unnatural death. The ED, meanwhile, recorded the statement of his sister Priyanka in New Delhi on Friday because her name reportedly figured in Sushant’s diary revealing his unfulfilled “plan 2020.”
Another team, led by a superintendent-rank officer, reached the Bandra police station which had registered it as “accidental death report” (ADR). “The team collected the case diary of the ADR and other important documents related to the investigation, which included autopsy and forensic reports. They also met DCP Abhishek Trimukhe, who was heading the Mumbai Police probe team,” an official spokesman said. The CBI team was expected to visit his Bandra residence, the scene of the occurrence, any time and recreate the scene of his death. It has reportedly collected the video footages of the CCTV cameras both inside and outside the house to probe into the allegation of tampering of the cameras. .
Rejecting the claim that under the Supreme Court order it had no more jurisdiction in continuing with the investigation, the Mumbai Police has claimed that it would continue with the inquiry into some of the aspects of his death “in keeping with the apex court order.” A government official claimed that the apex court had not barred it from investigation but had only qualified it. “The SC order says that if during our inquiry, a cognizable offence is disclosed, we should transfer it to the CBI. This will be duly followed. The SC order was primarily about the transfer of the FIR registered by Bihar Police to Mumbai Police. It was not about the inquiry that is being conducted by the Bandra police,” the official said. He referred to the Para 34 of the apex court’s Wednesday’s order to justify his claimed. The para read, “As noted earlier, the FIR at Patna was subsequently transferred to the CBI with consent of the Bihar government during pendency of this transfer petition. However, in future, if commission of cognizable offence Section 175(2) CrPC is determined, the possibility of parallel investigation by the Mumbai Police cannot be ruled out.”
A senior police officer said the inquiry would continue “although people may not be summoned for recording statement for now”. So far, the Mumbai Police has registered the statements of 56 people, including filmmakers like Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Aditya Chopra. The Mumbai Police will provide all assistance to the CBI team,” the officer said.
The CBI has registered an FIR against Rhea, her family members and business manager Shruti Modi as well as Rajput’s house manager Samuel Miranda. The FIR was based on a complaint filed by Rajput’s father, alleging that Rhea, also an actor, and her family had abetted Sushant’s alleged suicide by harassing him and diverting his money among other offences.
The Enforcement Directorate has also registered an FIR under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act after Rajput’s father alleged that at money from his son’s bank account had been transferred to unverified accounts. The ED after initial investigations is also reported to have come across transfer of over Rs 15 crores unaccounted money from his accounts.