Published 12:23 IST, August 11th 2020
Did Rhea remove her company Rhealityx's website & Sushant's mailbox on ED questioning day?
As per sources, Rhea Chakraborty's company Rhealityx changed hosting services providers on August 7, since when it is no longer accessible on the Internet
As the ED officials sought digital evidence in their investigation of late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput's finances, sources have revealed that the IP address of Rhea's company Vividrage Rhealityx Pvt. Ltd. in Navi Mumbai has been changed 17 times over the past year with the most recent one on Friday, August 7. It is alarming as Republic TV has accessed documents revealing the precise dates when the IP address was switched to a newer one and the records show that starting exactly a year before Sushant's death, i.e., 14 June 2019, the digital communication points were irregularly changed 17 times.
What is most disconcerting about this, however, is that the company's website is nowhere to be found on the Internet. Sources have also reported that Showik Chakraborty and Sushant had their own official email addresses registered on the domain. The IP-changing behaviour till the last few days that have coincided with Rhea's questioning at the ED's hands opens up the possibility that materials relating to her business dealings are no longer available in the public domain as they had been till very recently, as the heat turned on her in the Sushant probe.
The documents reveal the IP History as "17 changes on 17 unique IP addresses over 1 year". An IP address is an ID on the internet allotted to every connection on every device to communicate with other devices. While IP addresses generally do change based on whether the IP is static or dynamic, the more worrying aspect appears to be potential destruction of evidence, as it can only presumably be at Rhea or Showik's behest that the most recent changes have been made. To be specific, the last change on the website was made on the first day that Rhea was questioned by ED. Rhea, Showik and Sushant were directors in the company.
ED sources have recently reported that both Rhea and Showik were asked to provide information on their bank accounts and details of the companies that were allegedly formed using Sushant Singh Rajput's money. ED also asked Rhea about her income and the investments made in the last few years and her alleged absconding of one company months after it was formed.
The central agency has registered a case against Rhea Chakraborty under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after Sushant's father KK Singh alleged in his FIR at Patna last month that she had cheated the late actor of a huge sum of money. Apart from the ED probe, Sushant's mysterious death case was also being investigated by the Bihar Police and Mumbai Police. However, the case has now been taken over by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), though the Supreme Court will decide on its eventual fate in its Tuesday hearing.
Updated 12:23 IST, August 11th 2020