The father of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput has told the Supreme Court that the petition filed by his son’s girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty seeking to transfer the police case from Patna to Mumbai has become unnecessary after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took up the case.
The statement came on a day when Mumbai police informed the Supreme Court, in a sealed cover, about the status of its probe into the actor’s death at his Bandra house on June 14.
In his response affidavit filed ahead of the hearing of the case on Tuesday, Sushant’s father stated that even after 54 days of inquiry, the Mumbai police had not found any ground to register an FIR. “If the respondent No.3 (State of Maharashtra) has found no evidence qua the petitioner (Rhea) in 54 days of inquiry, it only reflects one conclusion that the Respondent No.3 is trying to shield the petitioner for reasons best known to them.”
He informed the Court that prior to his son’s death, in two complaints dated February 19 and February 25, he informed the Mumbai police about an apprehension of threat to his son’s life on which no action was taken. The father further accused the Mumbai police of showing no urgency in conducting the inquest proceedings in order to find the culprits responsible for his son’s death.
Pointing to the language employed in Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) relating to inquest, he said, “The Inquest proceeding under Section 174 CrPC refers to term such as ‘immediately’ and ‘forthwith’ which reflect the nature of urgency expressed by the legislature in preparing an inquest report by the police officer.” In the present case, Rhea was questioned four days after the incident.
With his complaint now entrusted to the CBI, father of the late actor said, “the present transfer petition has become infructuous.” He said that Rhea will now have to file a fresh petition challenging the probe by CBI as the case no longer rests with Bihar police.
He referred to Rhea’s tweets on social media platform where she had requested the Union home minister for a CBI enquiry into Sushant’s death.
