Four and a half years after it began investigating actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, the CBI has reportedly closed the case and given a clean chit to actress Rhea Chakraborty, bringing a curtain down on a case that has rocked the country, reports Rajshekar Jha. Rajput was found dead in his Bandra apartment on June 14, 2020.
The agency has filed closure reports in two cases it was investigating, sources said. One case was filed against Rhea, her relatives and others in Patna in August 2021, while the other case was filed by Rhea in September against Rajput’s sister and a doctor.
Sources said that the closure report of both has been filed in a Mumbai special court.
Rhea’s lawyer Satish Maneshinde said, “Rhea Chakraborty had to face unspeakable suffering and spent 27 days in jail without any fault of hers until Justice Sarang V Kotwal granted her bail. I salute her and her family for remaining silent and enduring the inhuman treatment they received. Innocent people were hounded and paraded in front of the media and investigating authorities. I hope this never happens again.”
Rajput’s public relations manager Disha Salian was found dead 6 days after she fell to her death from the 14th floor of a Malad tower block.
Rajput was found dead in his Bandra apartment on June 14, 2020, six days after the death of his public relations manager Disha Salian. The Mumbai Police, which initially investigated the case, called it a suspicious suicide, but no suicide note was found. The provisional post-mortem examination suggested that the cause of death was asphyxiation due to hanging.
Incidentally, on Wednesday, Disha’s father Satish Salian alleged that his daughter was gang-raped and murdered. He has filed a petition seeking a CBI probe into her death, saying that Rajput was scared and that the “person” responsible for her death would not spare him and repeatedly expressed fear that he would be killed. He has said that both the deaths are linked and part of a larger conspiracy.
The CBI FIR in Rajput’s case names Rhea and her relatives Indrajit Chakraborty, Sandhya and Shoik, along with her accomplices Samuel Miranda and Shruti Modi.
The FIR, initially filed by the Bihar Police, had sections of the IPC relating to criminal conspiracy, abetment to suicide, wrongful confinement, wrongful imprisonment, theft, criminal breach of trust, cheating and criminal intimidation.
After Rajput’s cremation at Pawan Hans crematorium in Vile Parle, Mumbai Police began their investigation and recorded statements from film and cast director Mukesh Chhabra, Rajput’s girlfriend Rhea and his management staff. In July that year, producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali was questioned and said that he had offered Rajput four films but ultimately did not deliver on any of them.
Rhea, who confirmed her relationship with Rajput on Twitter (now X), had demanded a CBI probe. Mumbai Police also recorded statements of filmmaker Aditya Chopra and three psychiatrists.
Meanwhile, an FIR was registered against Rhea in Patna on July 28, and a Bihar Police team arrived in Mumbai to investigate the case.
The Enforcement Directorate questioned Rhea about the money laundering angle of the case, but found no substance against them. Later, the NCB started an investigation against her and others on charges of buying drugs for Rajput, which led to her arrest. In August 2021, the CBI filed an FIR against Rhea and others, and the ED had also summoned her for questioning.
On August 22, the CBI contacted an AIIMS forensic team, and the ED uncovered a drug angle in the case involving the Narcotics Control Bureau.
In September 2021, an FIR was filed against Rhea Rajput’s sisters and the doctor, which was also transferred to the CBI.
This is the second case to be closed, sources said.
In October, there were reports that the AIIMS board had rejected the murder theory, but the CBI said they were investigating all angles.
