SSR case: Bombay HC judgment on sisters’ plea for quashing of Bandra FIR today

The sisters have moved the high court through advocate Madhav Thorat, claiming the statements made in Rhea Chakraborty’s complaint did not make out any cognisable offence

The Bombay high court will pronounce on Monday its judgment on the petition filed by Priyanka Singh and Meetu Singh, sisters of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput, for quashing an FIR registered against them by Bandra Police on September 7, 2020. The FIR was registered on the basis of a complaint lodged by Rajput’s friend, actor Rhea Chakraborty.

Representational image.

The division bench of justice SS Shinde and justice MS Karnik is scheduled to pronounce orders on the petition in the afternoon.

On September 7, 2020, Bandra Police registered an offence against the sisters on the basis of a complaint lodged by Chakraborty, alleging that Priyanka Singh had, on June 8, 2020, sent the late actor prescriptions by one Dr Tarun Kumar, a cardiologist attached to Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Delhi, with medicines containing psychotropic substances controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. Chakraborty alleged that the doctor had not examined the actor, and consumption the of the psychotropic substances “may have caused and contributed to the suicidal death of the actor.”

The sisters have moved the high court through advocate Madhav Thorat, claiming the statements made therein did not make out any cognisable offence. Their petition stated the complaint was nothing but a feeble attempt on Chakraborty’s part to scuttle investigations against her by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and blame Rajput’s family members for his suicide, as she was on the verge of being arrested by NCB. Chakraborty was arrested by NCB on September 8.

Their counsel, senior advocate Vikas Singh, had submitted that there was a gross delay in registering the offence, when Chakraborty was well-aware of the WhatsApp chats exchanged between the late actor and Priyanka Singh on June 8, but she lodged complaint on September 7.

Vikas Singh had also pointed out that the Telemedicine Guidelines issued by the medical council of India permitted prescription of the medicines even on first consultation, and there was nothing wrong in the prescription.

The senior advocate had asserted that the FIR registered by Bandra Police was non-est in the eyes of the law for being a second offence on the same cause of action and thus liable to be struck down on this ground as well. The senior advocate relied on the ruling in Jacob Matthew’s case, in which Supreme Court has held that an offence cannot be directly registered against a registered medical practitioner.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) supported the petitioners by terming Chakraborty’s allegations “mostly presumptive and speculative in nature” and claiming the FIR was “vitiated and bad in law” for being the second FIR on the same cause of action—the death of Rajput.

Senior advocate Devdatt Kamat, who represented Bandra Police, had maintained that there was no illegality in registering the offence. Kamat submitted that the prescription (sent by Priyanka Singh to Rajput) was prima facie a fabricated document.

Kamat had pointed out that the WhatsApp messages exchanged by and between the deceased actor and Priyanka Singh falsified the claim that the prescription was followed by online consultation. He pointed out from the documents that somebody other than the late actor had gone to Ram Manohar Lohiya Hospital as an indoor patient and obtained the prescription.

With regard to the contention of second FIR on the same cause of action, Kamat said that the Bandra FIR was in the nature of a counter-complaint and an FIR on the basis of a counter-complaint can’t be termed as a second FIR on the same subject.

Advocate Satish Maneshinde had represented Chakraborty during the hearing. He had insisted that the circumstances relating to Rajput’s death need to be investigated. Responding to the grounds of delay in lodging the complaint, he had said that Chakraborty was aware of the messages exchanged by and between the late actor and Priyanka Singh on June 8 and Rajput had asked her to leave his residence as she insisted that he should not take the illegally prescribed medicines.

However, Maneshinde said, she realised that the medicines were actually procured and consumption of the same could have led to untimely death of the actor only after certain other messages were leaked by an investigation agency and thereafter she lodged the complaint.

Maneshinde had also urged the court to allow the investigation into Chakraborty’s allegations, contending that in a case of abetment to suicide, proximate reasons are most important and since the prescription was dated June 8 and the actor had ended his life six days later, on June 14, it could be the most proximate reason behind his death.