City bizman moves HC for CBI probe into Sushant Rajput’s death

Nagpur: Even as a controversy continues over Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, a city businessman and lawyer has approached Bombay high court demanding either constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) or inquiry by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the entire affair.
The PIL was listed for hearing on Tuesday, however, due to heavy rains in Mumbai, the court administration faced severe staff shortage and therefore all hearings were deferred till Thursday.
Terming the actor’s suicide at his Bandra home on June 14 as “suspicious”, Sameer Thakkar of Lakadganj here, through counsel Raspal Singh Renu, sought directives from the judiciary for free, fair and impartial investigation into the case.
Stressing on a probe by either SIT, CBI or any other investigation agency outside Mumbai, the petitioner contended that the death of the actor was untimely and tragic, involving national and international ramifications with complex issues.
According to him, those involved are high profile and powerful people with political and underworld connections, therefore, crucial and material evidence is being compromised with each passing day.
Government of India secretary, state home department principal secretary, CBI director in Delhi and joint director in Mumbai, commissioner of police (CP) in Mumbai and Bandra police station officer, are the respondents.
Praying for immediate action against erring police officers trying to hash up the matter, Renu contended that deliberate and undue delay on police’s part is leading to wiping out evidence on a daily basis.
“It has been more than 40 days, but not a single crucial witness has been summoned. What stopped them from collecting CCTV footage of the actor’s building immediately after his death, and why was it retrieved after nearly a month. They’re only following rituals of investigating a crime in a shoddy manner, but nothing has been done to show results on ground.”
Alleging nexus of Bollywood bigwigs with the underworld, politicians and police, the petitioner said in Rajput’s case same big names had systematically sidelined and ruined him to force him to end his life.
“What happened with the actor when he was preparing for a big venture ‘Paani’ is public. He was promised seven big movies and at the last moment it was called off. Another big venture ‘Drive’ was released on OTT platform without any promotions, with the preconceived notion that the movie would fail. Six months before his death, the actor was seen begging the public to watch his film, apprehending that the bigwigs will throw him out,” the petitioner claimed.