AUGUST 13, 2020
The Bihar government, in its written submission to the Supreme Court on Thursday, said that on account of political pressure in Maharashtra, neither an FIR was lodged nor any cooperation was provided to Bihar Police in the case related to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
The apex court had on Tuesday reserved its order on the plea of main accused Rhea Chakraborty seeking transfer of the case registered in Patna to Mumbai and asked all the concerned parties to file their written submissions.
The case was filed by the late actor’s father KK Singh accusing Rhea and several others for abetment to suicide.
“It is apparent that it is on account of political pressure in the State of Maharashtra that neither the FIR has been registered by the Mumbai Police nor did they extend any cooperation to Bihar Police in discharging their obligation to conduct investigation expeditiously,” said the Bihar government in its detailed reply before the Supreme Court.
Criticizing the quarantine of senior Bihar police officer in Maharashtra, the government further said, “Whereas on one hand, the State of Bihar and its officials had acted with all sense of responsibility and regard to authorities of State of Maharashtra, sadly, it has met with complete absence of reciprocation by similar conduct by the authorities of the State of Maharashtra.”
The written submission also cited that Rhea in the transfer petition relied upon a tweet to the Union Home Minister requesting for investigation by the CBI.
“Even in the additional affidavit, the petitioner has stated that she has reiterated for investigation by CBI,” said the Nitish Kumar government.
The state government argued that the attention of the apex court is also invited to the provision of Section 406 of the CrPC, wherein it has been envisaged to make a prayer for transfer of a case. Whenever there is information regarding commission of a cognizable offence, u/s 154(1) Cr.P.C. it is mandatory to register an FIR and conduct investigation immediately and expeditiously.
“No doubt or dispute with regard to jurisdiction would permit, in any manner whatsoever, to cause any impediment in the expeditious conduct of the investigation. It is in this background that Section 406 provides for transfer of the case and not for transfer of the investigation,” the state government said.
The Bihar government further urged the top court to reject Rhea Chakraborty’s transfer petition.
“It deserves to be rejected/disposed of by the orders of this court.
“In the facts and circumstances of the present case, it is humbly submitted that no impediment would deserve to be allowed to come in the way of the CBI to undertake and complete the investigation expeditiously,” it argued.
It also argued that Bihar Police has the jurisdiction to probe the case.
Earlier on August 7, the Nitish Kumar government had told the Supreme Court that the transfer petition filed by actress Rhea Chakraborty in connection with the Sushant Singh Rajput case is “misconceived and not maintainable”.
The state government had also informed the court that the Mumbai Police has been obstructing the investigation into the Sushant Singh Rajput case by Patna police and have not supplied crucial documents connected with the case.
“The non-cooperation by the Mumbai Police with the Patna Police, who is already there in Mumbai for a probe, is very much clear from the fact that the Mumbai Police has not supplied any documents such as Inquest Report, Post Mortem report, FSL report, CCTV footage etc. to the Patna Police despite several requests made by the latter,” the Bihar government said in an affidavit.
The state government also contended that when IPS officer Vinay Tiwary reached Mumbai, he was forcibly quarantined by the civic body BMC, which casts serious aspersion on the role of Mumbai Police who is apparently siding with the petitioner.
The state government said the Mumbai Police has been making “lame excuses” that it has jurisdiction to investigate the offense despite the fact that no cognizable case has been registered in Mumbai in connection with death of Sushant Singh Rajput.
“That even without little support from the Mumbai Police, the members of the SIT carried out investigation wherein various witnesses have been examined and the Kotak Bank account details of the deceased actor has been verified, the details whereof has been mentioned in the FIR with regard to siphoning of money by the petitioner and other accused persons,” said the affidavit.
The top court had on August 5 observed that it is unfortunate that a gifted artist like Sushant Singh Rajput passed away under unusual circumstances and the truth in the matter should come out.
Justice Hrishikesh Roy, hearing the arguments on a plea by Sushant’s girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty said that it needs to be investigated whether there was any criminality involved in the matter.
The court also sought status reports from the state governments of Bihar and Maharashtra, Mumbai Police, Centre and Sushant Singh Rajput’s father.
The Bihar Police had filed an FIR against Chakraborty on a complaint by the Sushant Singh’s father, alleging that she illegally transferred Rs 15 crore from the actor’s Mumbai bank account and mentally harassed him.
However, the Maharashtra government has stated that the FIR by Patna police is “politically motivated and that it does not have any jurisdiction.”
The 34-year-old actor was found hanging from the ceiling of his apartment in suburban Bandra in Mumbai on June 14.
On August 6, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case against six persons, including Rhea Chakraborty and her family members, on the basis of the FIR filed by Bihar Police on his family’s complaint.
Now, the CBI has handed the case over to its Special Investigation Team (SIT) branch, which earlier investigated the high profile cases like Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal, and liquor baron Vijay Mallya bank fraud case.
Courtesy/Source: The Statesman
