Sushant Singh Rajput case: Shiv Sena, Congress, NCP slam BJP as AIIMS report calls death suicide

The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies, Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday over the

The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies, Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday over the issue of Sushant Singh Rajput’s death after an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) panel headed by Dr Sudhir Gupta concluded that the actor died by suicide and it was not a murder. While Sena said it stands vindicated, state Congress unit demanded a probe by a special investigation team (SIT) into the “conspiracy to defame Maharashtra and find the mastermind behind it”.

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The BJP, however, said the investigation was ongoing and the party wants “justice” for the late actor.

In its conclusive medico-legal opinion to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing the case, the six-member AIIMS medical board of forensic doctors dismissed the claims of “poisoning and strangling” made in the case of Singh’s death. The premier institute’s forensic chief Dr Sudhir Gupta termed it “a case of hanging and death by suicide”.

“We welcome the comments by Dr Gupta on the medical probe into the untimely and unfortunate death of Sushant Singh Rajput. We also believe people are the best judge to know who was using the issue for political gains and how a motivated campaign was run against the state government and certain people in the government. We will wait for the final report to be released by AIIMS to decide further course of action,” said Shiv Sena spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi. “We stand vindicated and have maintained that the truth will prevail.”

Congress, on the other hand, demanded an SIT probe, while NCP said a case should be filed against those spreading fake news.

“After the official confirmation by AIIMS panel head Dr Sudhir Gupta… it is proved that investigation by @MumbaiPolice was honest and forthright. It is also clear that it was a conspiracy of Modi govt with help of their fake media allies to defame Maharashtra,” said Sachin Sawant, general secretary and spokesperson of state Congress unit in a series of tweets.

“Now we demand government of Maharashtra to form an SIT to nab the conspirators and their mastermind… And take appropriate action against these fake channels to save our democracy as their fake stories are harmful for our country,” Sawant tweeted.

The NCP said CBI should now complete its investigation in a month and “bring out truth before the people”.

“This proves that the entire campaign was politically motivated and BJP is exposed. We want CBI to complete the probe in the next one month so that people know the truth. They have already taken two months, how much more time do they need,” said state minority affairs minister and NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik.

NCP spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said a criminal case should be filed against those who ran a campaign to defame Mumbai Police and Maharashtra government.

The BJP, meanwhile, said it wanted to ensure justice for Rajput.

Ram Kadam, BJP MLA and party spokesperson, said the CBI investigation is ongoing. “We have never questioned the efficiency of Mumbai Police. We wanted the state government to give them free hand to probe the matter. On what grounds had the police had said that it was a suicide case? We have been trying to get justice for Rajput’s family,” said Kadam, adding that the MVA government wanted to “protect the drug mafia and thus never investigated that aspect”.

Rajput, 34, was found dead in his Bandra flat on June 14. The post-mortem report concluded he died by suicide. A controversy erupted over the death, as a Bihar police team constituted to probe the case on a complaint by the actor’s family alleged it got no cooperation from its Mumbai counterparts. The probe was handed over to CBI by the Supreme Court, after it upheld the validity of the Bihar Police’s first information report (FIR) filed on the basis of a complaint by Rajput’s father, KK Singh, who has accused actor Rhea Chakraborty and her family of abetting his son’s suicide and misappropriating his money.

Chakraborty has denied all allegations levelled against her.