Rajput’s sister appeals to PM, Nitish calls for justice
Mumbai police should cooperate with Bihar police since a case was lodged by the actor’s father. Bihar police is investigating the case with full honesty. The family should get justice NITISH KUMAR, Bihar chief minister
PATNA/MUMBAI: Actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s sister Shweta Singh Kirti appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday to ensure no evidence is tampered with in the probe into her brother’s death even as Bihar Police said it was capable of probing the sensational case on its own.
Kirti posted a message tagging the prime minister on social media amid growing controversy and politics surrounding the 34-year-old, who was found dead in his Bandra flat in Mumbai on June 14.
“We are from a very simple family. My brother had no Godfather when he was in Bollywood nor do we have anyone right now. My request to you is to immediately look into this case and make sure that everything is handled in a sanitised way and no evidences are tampered with. Expecting justice to prevail,” Kirti wrote in her appeal.
The developments came on a day Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar said he could hand the case over to the Central Bureau of Investigation if the actor’s family demanded. Kumar said it was the duty of the Bihar Police to conduct an investigation and it was doing so.
“Mumbai police should cooperate with Bihar police since a case was lodged by the actor’s father. Bihar police is investigating the case with full honesty and sincerity. The family should get justice.”
Bihar’s director general of police Gupteshwar Pandey insisted his force was capable of investigating the case, and said the four-member Patna Police team in Mumbai had recorded the statements of Ashok Kumar (Rajput’s chef), Neeraj (Rajput’s help), Ankita Lokhande (Rajput’s former girlfriend), Mahesh Shetty (Rajput’s friend), Meetu Singh (Rajput’s sister) and Kersi Chavda (Rajput’s therapist).
When asked if Rhea Chakraborty, who was in a live-in relationship with Rajput, would be interrogated, an official of the Bihar police said, “It is not required as of now. But she is under our watch.”
In Mumbai, parliamentary affairs minister and Shiv Sena leader Anil Parab said the government asked police to question people levelling allegations of political involvement in the probe.
The statement came a day after actor Shekhar Suman said the case was not being handed over to the CBI to save the son of a politician.
“Honourable chief minister has clarified on Friday that whoever has any information related to the case should come forward and give it to the police. On the other hand, I have also appealed to the police that they should summon the people who have been making such claims. They should take the information about the information of the involvement of any politician,” Parab said.
The minister reiterated that Mumbai police are competent to handle the case.
Investigation in the case stoked a row last week after Rajput’s father, KK Singh, lodged an FIR in Bihar where he named Chakraborty and her family members and alleged that they developed an acquaintance with his son as part of a deliberate conspiracy so that she could establish herself in the film industry, and with an eye on his son’s money. He claimed there were unexplained transfers from his son’s account including a ~15 crore transaction.
He also alleged that on June 6, less than a week before Rajput was found dead in his house, Chakraborty left with many of his belongings, including his laptop, ATM card and some documents.
Since then, the governments and police forces of two states, top Bollywood stars and politicians have waded into the row.
Chakraborty released a statement on Friday rejecting the allegations.herpleaasking for the transfer of the probe from Bihar to Mumbai will be heard in the Supreme Court on August 5.
The governments of Bihar, Maharashtra and Singh have all filed caveats in the case. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also registered a money laundering case.
In Bihar, attention has been focused on Chakraborty with the DGP saying on Saturday that the police team could not locate her.
“The police team visited banks to gather details about the transactions. All evidences are being collected. The team also tried to collect CCTV footages, video clips, FSL report, medicolegal report, postmortem report and all related papers from the Mumbai police,” he said.