Cloth used by Sushant to hang self to undergo 'tensile' test

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    Mumbai, Jul 3 (PTI) As part of probe into the suicide
of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, the Mumbai Police have sent the
cloth, allegedly used by him to hang himself, to a forensic
lab for "tensile strength" analysis to determine whether it
can bear the weight similar to that of the film star, an
official said on Friday.
    The test will help determine if there was any foul
play, he said.
    Meanwhile, the Bandra police have summoned film
director Sanjay Leela Bhansali to record his statement in
connection with the case on July 6, the official said.
    Bhansali had offered films to Rajput but could not
work with him apparently due to date issues.
    Rajput (34) was found hanging at his suburban Bandra
residence on June 14.
    According to the investigators, the actor ended his
life by hanging himself from the ceiling using a green
coloured night gown made of cotton.
    No suicide note was found from the spot, the police
had said then.
    "Besides the viscera from the actor's body, the police
also sent the gown for chemical and forensic analysis at the
Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in suburban Kalina," the
official said.
    It will take at least three more days to get the final
forensic report, the official said.
    To ascertain the exact cause of death, forensic
experts will check pattern of ligature marks around the actors
neck and also determine the strength of the gown with the help
of "tensile strength" analysis, he said.
    The tensile strength test will technically establish
whether the cloth can bear around 80 kg, the weight of the
actor. The test will help determine if there was any foul
play, the official said.
    Tensile strength is maximum load that a material can
support without fracture when being stretched.
    Viscera analysis will help in checking whether there
were any traces of chemical, poisonous or narcotics substance
in his body, the official said.
    "Usually, it takes eight to ten working days to get
report from the FSL in regular cases. But since this case is
sensitive, experts are taking more precautions to avoid any
kind of error in their analysis," the official said.
    The forensic report of the actors mobile phone is also
awaited, he said.
    Recently, the police received the final post-mortem
report of the actor from Cooper Hospital, which mentioned the
cause of the death as "asphyxia due to hanging".
    Rajput, who had started his acting career from TV,
starred in films such as 'Shuddh Desi Romance', 'Raabta',
'Chhichhore', 'Kedarnath' and 'Sonchiriya'. But his most
prominent role came as popular cricketer Mahendra Singh
Dhoni in the biopic "MS Dhoni: The Untold Story".
    The official said that the Bandra police have summoned
the Bollywood director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and he will join
the investigation on Monday, when his statement will be
recorded.
    The police, who are probing angle of possible
professional rivalry in the case, will enquire about reasons
behind the actor's depression, he said.
    Bhansali had offered films to Rajput, but due to date
issues, things did not work out between them as the actor had
signed a contract with a big production house.
    The police will try to understand the circumstances in
which the rising star of Bollywood killed himself, the
official said.
    The police have so far recorded statements of 29
people, including Rajput's family members, his close friends
like actor Rhea Chakraborty, casting director Mukesh Chhabra,
Yash Raj Films casting director Shanoo Sharma and actor
Sanjana Sanghi, who was the actor's co-star in her debut film
'Dil Bechara'. PTI DC RSY
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)