A letter to the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court seeks transfer of the probe into actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death to an independent investigation agency or a court-monitored team headed by a retired judge.
The 17-page letter by advocates Sarthak Nayak and Kanchan Rai of Let Us Talk Foundation stated, “The forensic team reached his [Rajput’s] house the next day ... the house was not sealed immediately and was easily accessible. Even though more than 40 persons have already been interrogated but till now FIR has not been registered and not a single person has been arrested. The lapse in the time will provide sufficient opportunity to the real accused to seek anticipatory bail.”
The letter said, “The word suicide was coined immediately after his death by the police officers and it became a trend on social media initially. It was quite unnatural to call it a mysterious death and suicide before the investigation was complete and reach such a conclusion. The police officers should have exercised tremendous amount of care, caution and circumspection and waited to find out whether it was a case of suicide or abetment to suicide or it was a foul murder given the form of suicide, which could have been ascertained only at the time of submission of charge sheet.”
Rajput, 34, was found dead in his Bandra home on June 14. The letter said, “Mumbai Police quite irresponsibly gave a statement before media that he was under depression and was taking medicines without ascertaining any facts. Rajput’s father in the FIR had alleged that actor Rhea Chakraborty self-medicated him and gave him overdose of medicines.”
The letter also cited the Arushi Talwar case and said when the investigation was shifted to other agencies, it was too late for them to collect evidence and make a watertight case.
Police visit Rhea’s home
Meanwhile, the visiting Bihar police team on Thursday started the process of scrutinising financial transactions and bank account details of Rajput, according to a Mumbai Crime Branch official.
The team from Bihar, which arrived here on Wednesday, visited several places, including the residence of Ms. Chakraborty, who is facing ‘abetment to suicide’ charge in a FIR filed in Patna, but did not find her at home, the official said.
The police team visited a Bandra-based bank where Rajput had an account. They are also looking into evidence collected so far by the Mumbai Police and statements recorded by them.
They are expected to question some people linked to Rajput, including his ex-girlfriend, actor Ankita Lokhande, the official said.
(With PTI inputs)