The Centre on Wednesday accepted Bihar govt’s request for CBI probe into actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta confirmed the same to the apex court, ANI reported.
On Tuesday, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar recommended CBI probe to the Centre in the sensational case at the request of Sushant’s father, Krishna Kishore Singh. Maharashtra has been opposed to transferring the probe to CBI.
Responding to the Bihar government's recommendation, Rhea’s lawyer Satish Maneshinde had said that Bihar had no ‘legal basis to get involved’. “There can't be transfer of a case which had no legal basis for Bihar to get involved. At most, it would be a 'Zero FIR' transferable to Mumbai Police. Transfer of a case, on which they had no jurisdiction, to CBI has no legal sanctity,” he told ANI on Tuesday.
The Supreme Court is hearing Rhea Chakraborty’s plea to transfer the Patna FIR to Mumbai. Amid unprecedented tug of war between police of Bihar and Maharashtra over the right to probe the death of the actor who was found hanging at his Mumbai residence on June 14, Rhea had sought transfer of FIR lodged in Patna on ground of jurisdiction.
ALSO READ: Sushant Singh’s death case: From nepotism debate to Maharashtra-Bihar turf war
The actress, in her interim pleas filed with the pending transfer petition, said, “it is becoming increasingly evident through the widespread media reports that the captioned FIR (at Patna) was successfully filed in Patna only due to intervention of the Chief Minister of Bihar and other local politicians.
The actress has said in her plea that she was in a live-in relationship with Sushant and has been in deep trauma due the death of the actor and moreover getting rape and death threats.
“It is pertinent to mention that the deceased and petitioner were in live-in relationship since a year up till June 8, 2020 when the petitioner had temporarily shifted to her own residence in Mumbai,” she has said in her plea.
Rhea has also said, “Deceased (Sushant) was suffering from depression for some time and was also on anti-depressants and he committed suicide on the morning of June 14, 2020 at his Bandra residence by hanging himself.”
In a counter move, Sushant’s father Krishna Kishore Singh had filed a caveat in the apex court, seeking to be heard before the court takes a decision on Rhea’s plea. Bihar government also filed a caveat, and hired former attorney general Mukul Rohatgi to challenge Rhea in the SC.
On July 25, Sushant’s father had lodged an FIR at Rajiv Nagar police station in Patna against Rhea and six others, including her family members, accusing them of abetting the actor’s suicide.
An FIR has been registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 306 (abetment of suicide), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement), 380 (theft in dwelling house), 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust) and 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property).
