Sushant Singh Rajput’s death: MVA slams CBI as its probe completes a year

The ruling allies in Maharashtra have slammed CBI and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Central government for misuse of central agencies to defame the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the unfortunate incident

As the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) probe into the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput completes a year, the ruling allies in Maharashtra have slammed CBI and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Central government for misuse of central agencies to defame the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the unfortunate incident. They said CBI’s silence and failure to complete the investigation proves that the move was politically motivated and that it was an apt example of how these agencies are being used by the Narendra Modi government for political agenda.

Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead at his Mumbai apartment on June 14. He allegedly died by suicide. (HT FILE)

Rajput was found dead at his Mumbai apartment on June 14. He allegedly died by suicide. The Mumbai Police was probing the case when CBI took over the investigation on August 6. After registering a first information report (FIR), the Bihar government recommended CBI probe in the matter. Since then, there have been allegations of politics in the investigation into the actor’s death.

“A year has passed since CBI started a probe into actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s case, and CBI has not yet reached any conclusion. It has been more than 300 days since the AIIMS panel denied murder angle in the case. CBI is still deliberately silent on this matter. Who is pressuring CBI? What progress has been made in the past one year by CBI which made it a very prestigious case? Is there any order issued by the Modi government to deliberately keep the investigation in Maharashtra pending and inconclusive?” said Sachin Sawant, Congress general secretary and spokesperson of the state unit.

“It was BJP’s ploy to tarnish the image of the Mumbai Police and destabilise the MVA government. The then Bihar DGP Gupteshwar Pandey was used for this. The BJP stooped too low and openly levelled murder and rape charges, and even used the actor’s death in Bihar elections,” he added.

Dr Sudhir Gupta, who led the AIIMS panel re-evaluating Rajput’s post mortem report, said the actor’s death was a suicide and not a murder. AIIMS doctors had submitted their findings to CBI on September 29 last year.

“The transfer of Rajput’s case to CBI was politically motivated. A case was registered in Bihar despite having no jurisdiction as the incident happened in Mumbai. Based on the FIR, a CBI investigation was ordered. However, even after a year, CBI is unable to ascertain if it was a suicide or a murder,” said Nawab Malik, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) national spokesperson and skill development minister.

He alleged that the move was a deliberate attempt to defame MVA and use it in the impending Bihar Assembly elections.

Maharashtra BJP vice-president Madhav Bhandari countered the allegations saying the delay in investigation was due to non-cooperation of the Mumbai Police and the state government. “Mumbai Police are not cooperating with CBI following the directives of the state government. This is the reason the CBI probe in the matter is delayed. If MVA allies are so concerned to know what has really happened, they should ensure that the police extend full cooperation to CBI,” Bhandari told HT.