Report ‘hints’ at star’s suicide
THE forensic department of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), in its report to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), has “hinted” that the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput was suicide and not murder.
The forensic panel was formed at the request of the CBI in August, to assist in giving a medical-legal opinion regarding Rajput’s death.
These findings would reject claims of poisoning and strangling made by the actor’s family and their lawyer.
Rajput was found dead in his Bandra apartment on June 14, in Mumbai. While the Mumbai police concluded the actor had committed suicide, the actor’s family and fans cast doubt in their ability to properly investigate the matter. The case was subsequently taken up by the CBI, Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
The CBI registered a case on August 6, on the complaint of the late actor’s father, KK Singh.
The CBI recorded the statements of several people, including Rajput’s girlfriend, Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik, father Indrajit, Rajput’s house manager Samuel Miranda, flatmate Siddharth Pithani, and his personal staff.
Besides the CBI, the ED and the NCB are probing a money laundering charge and drugs angle, respectively.
The NCB has also arrested Chakraborty, Showik, Miranda and Sawant in connection with the drug case. Currently, Chakraborty and
Showik are in judicial custody following the arrests.
Doctors at the AIIMS refused to share further details of their findings, as the matter is sub judice.
CBI sources remained tight-lipped on the issue, but maintained that the agency is probing all the angles, and that no angle has been ruled out yet.
Vikas Singh, the actor’s family lawyer, expressed concern over the AIIMS report on Twitter.
“Going to request the CBI director to constitute a fresh forensic team. How could AIIMS team give a conclusive report in the absence of the body, that too on such shoddy post-mortem done by Cooper Hospital, wherein time of death also not mentioned?”