SC reserves order on Rhea’s plea to transfer probe
NEW DELHI: Mumbai Police is not investigating the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput and no FIR has been registered by them, the CBI and Bihar government told the Supreme Court on Friday, even as Maharashtra government and actor Rhea Chakraborty maintained that Bihar has “absolutely no jurisdiction” to interfere with the case.
The arguments and counter arguments were made before a single-judge bench of justice Hrishikesh Roy, which reserved its verdict on the petition filed by Chakraborty seeking transfer from Patna to Mumbai of the case registered against her in connection with Rajput’s death.
NEW DELHI: Mumbai Police is not investigating the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput and no FIR has been registered by them, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Bihar government told the Supreme Court on Friday, even as Maharashtra government and actor Rhea Chakraborty maintained that Bihar has “absolutely no jurisdiction” to interfere with the case which, they said, was being used by Bihar government to garner political mileage.
The arguments and counter arguments were made before a single-judge bench of justice Hrishikesh Roy, who is hearing the transfer petition filed by Chakraborty seeking transfer from Patna to Mumbai of the case registered against her in connection with Rajput’s death.
“FIR was registered by Bihar Police based on an incident which has no connection with Patna. I have apprehension of bias and fear that state interference led to Bihar police registering case. Patna police has absolutely no jurisdiction to register a case. This case is being used for political gains,” senior counsel Shyam Divan submitted on behalf of Chakraborty.
Divan also took exception to the media sensationalising the case, stating: “Parallel media trial is happening which is highly undesirable. Having regard to the political impact, case should be transferred to Maharashtra.”
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for CBI, submitted that the exercise being undertaken by the Mumbai Police cannot be termed as “investigation” under the CrPC.
“Mumbai police has registered an accidental death report under Section 174 of CrPC. Investigation as per CrPC was going on in Bihar and there is no such Investigation in Mumbai,” he said.
Mehta contended that it will not amount to an “investigation”, which can happen only under Section 156 of CrPC, which empowers police to probe into offences.
“Investigation cannot be done under Section 174 CrPC. It can happen under Section 156 of CrPC, an FIR has to be registered under section 154 of CrPC,” Mehta said, advocating a CBI probe into the death.
The Bihar government, through senior counsel Maninder Singh, echoed the same view, stating that only Bihar has registered an FIR in the case.
“There is a complete lapse of investigation on part of Mumbai police. Bihar’s FIR is the only FIR in the matter. Allegation is against political class in Maharashtra which has stopped even registering of FIR,” Singh submitted.
Senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing the Maharashtra government, opposed this. Allowing Bihar Police to probe an incident which happened in Mumbai will be against the principles of federalism since law-and-order falls within the domain of a state where the cause of action arose, he said. “Murder of the CrPc is being attempted in this case where jurisdiction is a casualty. If this is allowed, it will be a fundamental assault on federalism. I have not seen so much sensationalism attached to a transfer petition. And in that, truth and law have become casualties,” Singhvi argued.
The court reserved its verdict after a hearing which lasted for nearly two-and-a-half hours.
Rajput was found dead in his apartment in Mumbai’s Bandra on June 14. The Mumbai Police found the cause of death as “asphyxia due to hanging”, and filed an accidental death report (ADR) but is yet to register an FIR in relation to the incident.
Chakraborty, who lived with Rajput for a year till she shifted to her house on June 8, was also questioned by Mumbai Police.
The investigation by Mumbai Police was ongoing when Rajput’s father, KK Singh, filed a police complaint at Rajeev Nagar police station in Patna on July 25 against Chakraborty, accusing her of abetting his son’s alleged suicide. HTC