Sushant Singh Rajput case: CBI probe against Rhea lawful, Mumbai police to hand over evidence, says SC

The Supreme Court on Wednesday held that the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) probe into the FIR lodged against actress Rhea Chakraborty in connection with the death of Sushant Singh Rajput is lawful.

The court has further directed the Mumbai Police to hand over all the evidence in the case to the CBI. The judgment was passed by a Single Judge Bench of Justice Hrishikesh Roy, legal news website BarandBench.com has reported.

The court also directed the CBI to look into any other cases registered in the future in relation to the death of Rajput. The Maharashtra government has been ordered to assist the CBI in the investigation.

Putting to bed the jurisdictional tussle between the Bihar Police and the Mumbai Police, the court held that the FIR lodged by the former was lawful.

After the order was pronounced, the Maharashtra government sought to appeal against it. However, the Court declined to entertain the same.

Chakraborty had found herself in the middle of a controversy after an FIR was registered against her by the father of her deceased partner, Sushant Singh Rajput. This FIR was lodged in Patna at a time when the Mumbai Police was conducting a probe into Rajput's death.

On July 30, Chakraborty moved the Supreme Court seeking transfer of the case lodged against her.

The transfer petition states that the FIR in Patna alleging abetment to suicide charges against Chakraborty is nothing but an act of "connivance" between the State of Bihar and Rajput's father.

During the hearings before the Supreme Court, the Maharashtra and Bihar governments assailed each other's jurisdiction to investigate the matter, while both alleging that the issue was being politicised.

Meanwhile, the Bihar Police handed over the investigation in the matter to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The Mumbai Police had informed the Supreme Court in its affidavit that the initial statements made by Sushant Singh Rajput's family in connection with his June 14 death do not indicate any suspicion on the cause of death, apart from suicide.

It had submitted its investigation status report in a sealed envelope, averring that pending the adjudication of the transfer plea, the CBI ought not have gone ahead and registered the FIR or constituted a committee for conducting the investigation.

On the other hand, Bihar Police has stated before the Supreme Court that Rhea Chakraborty's plea seeking transfer of the FIR from Patna to Mumbai is not maintainable.

In its affidavit filed in the Apex Court, the Bihar Police averred that Section 406 of the Code of Criminal Procedure cannot be invoked for transferring investigation from one state to another.

Now that the CBI has registered its FIR in the case after taking over the probe from the Bihar Police, the Centre also moved the Supreme Court to be made party to this litigation.

In her additional affidavit filed before the Court amid the tug of war of jurisdiction between the states, Chakraborty questioned the manner in which the CBI has now assumed jurisdiction over the case. She also registered objection to media reports "sensationalizing the case" in her additional affidavit.

"Extreme trauma and infringement of privacy of the rights of the petitioner is caused due to constant sensationalisation of this case", the affidavit states.