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Actor’s death: Probe transferred to CBI
Observing that possibly more than one person could have been involved in the murder of actor Kunal Singh, the Bombay High Court on Thursday handed over the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Observing that possibly more than one person could have been involved in the murder of actor Kunal Singh, the Bombay High Court on Thursday handed over the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
On February 6, 2008, Kunal was found hanging from a fan in his apartment at Oshiwara.
His co-actor Lovina Bhatia, who was in the apartment that day, claimed that she had gone to the bathroom. Later, she found Kunal hanging.
After an inquiry, the police believed the suicide theory and closed the case.
The division bench of Justice B.H. Marlapalle and Justice R.Y. Ganoo handed over the investigation to the CBI after the Special Investigation Team could not find additional material to file charge sheet due to lack of evidence.
The investigation showed that it was murder and not a suicide. Besides, the probe revealed that it was not possible for one person to have committed the offence, observed the judges.
The high court directed the then commissioner of police Hasan Gafoor to form an investigation team after Kunal’s father Lt Col Rajendra Singh, a retired armyman, filed a petition in August 2008.
Manoj Mohite, his counsel, had sought fresh investigation by an independent agency.
Police Inspector Kalpana Gadekar, who was appointed as the head of the Special Investigation Team as per the high court directions had submitted a report along with a medical report and opinion of Dr V.N. Tasgaonkar, Medical Officer from Cooper Hospital.
After questioning Bhatia, Gadekar said in the report: “Psychological evaluation, psychological profiling and the polygraph examination show that she was found to be deceptive on the questions related to her having been a witness to Kunal’s murder and helping in murdering him and having given false information regarding his death.”
Bhatia was arrested on November 22.
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