Bihar Director General of Police (DGP) Gupteshwar Pandey on Thursday said that Bihar Police may move court if the IPS officer, Vinay Tiwari, is not exempted and released from the 14-day quarantine in which he as been placed in Mumbai by the Mumbai civic authorities. 

The Patna-Central Superintendent of Police Vinay Tiwari went to Mumbai on August 2 to lead a four-member Special Investigation Team. 

The police team was in Mumbai since July 27 to investigate the case lodged at Patna’s Rajiv Nagar Police Station by Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s father K.K. Singh on July 25 against Rhea Chakraborty and five others. The team recorded statements of several people and inspected the room where the actor was found dead on June 14. 

“We have made a request to BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) to exempt and release our officer who is quarantined or it can be said [is in] ‘house arrest’ there but still he has not been released…we will wait today and tomorrow [Thursday and Friday], we will discuss the situation…we may move the court as well seeking release of our officer as the case is in Supreme Court,” Mr. Pandey told mediapersons. 

While hearing the case on Wednesday, the Supreme Court had expressed its displeasure over the Bihar cadre IPS officer being quarantined in Mumbai by officials there. 

Earlier, the BMC, in its response to Bihar Police, had refused any exemption to Mr. Tiwari, citing COVID-19 regulations. 

“In view of the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic in Bihar, it is advised that the officer [Mr. Tiwari] can pursue his investigation digitally with Maharashtra government officials…but the officer has to be in compliance with all the rules and regulations prevailing in the State of Maharashtra,” the BMC’s Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects) P. Velrasu said in his letter addressed to Bihar Inspector General of Police-Central Range, Sanjay Singh. 

Meanwhile, the Principal Additional Advocate General of the Bihar government Lalit Kishore said that, if the government wished, he would place the matter in the Supreme Court, where the case is being heard. 

The Bihar government now has recommended the case to the CBI and the Central government has informed the Supreme Court that it has accepted the Bihar government’s recommendation. Later, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and leaders across party lines in Bihar thanked the Central government for accepting the recommendation. “We are hopeful of a better inquiry and justice in the case,” the CM said in a statement.