CBI BOOKS RHEA CHAKRABORTY, FIVE OF HER FAMILY IN SUSHANT CASE

NEWDELHI:THE Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday filed a case into the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput naming his ex-girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik Chakraborty and four other family members or known associates apart from unknown persons as accused, officials said.

The Mumbai police have been probing the death since Rajput’s body was found at his apartment on June 14 but are yet to register a case. The case was handed over to CBI by the Bihar government after Rajputs father KK Singh and the Bihar police alleged a cover-up by the Mumbai police. They have accused the Mumbai police of destroying evidence and deliberately ignoring leads in the case in an attempt to derail it. The Maharashtra police have questioned the jurisdiction of the Bihar police in the matter. A final call on this matter -- whether Bihar police have the jurisdiction to transfer a case to CBI -- will be taken by the Supreme Court later this week . One school of thought is that it has -- because Rajput’s father is based in the state. Another is that it doesn’t -- that while it can register a case, it has to transfer it to Mumbai police.

CBI has handed over the investigation to its Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is currently investigating the highprofile Agustawestland chopper case and the bank fraud case against fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya.

The SIT, also known as Anticorruption-6 and headed by Gujarat cadre IPS officer Manoj Shashidhar, was formed in June 2016 under then Special Director Rakesh Asthana to expedite probe against Mallya and in the chopper case.