Published 13:28 IST, October 7th 2020
Sushant case CBI team back in Mumbai for phase 2 amid Rhea-SSR meet eyewitness' summons
The CBI team probing the Sushant Singh Rajput death case has begun its second phase of investigation in the case with six probe officers back in Mumbai
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probing the Sushant Singh Rajput death case has begun its second phase of investigation in the case. A team of six top officials including SP Nupur Prasad have returned to Mumbai and they will be operating out of the CBI Headquarters in BKC and DRDO Guest House in Santa Cruz. In its second phase, the CBI will be investigating all the angles including the murder angle, as it had stated earlier.
The investigating agency will go through all the statements which it had recorded in the first phase of the investigation. It had spotted inconsistencies in those statements which will be looked into, sources said. They are also likely to re-examine Dipesh Sawant, Sidharth Pithani, and all of Sushant's staff that was present in the house when the actor was found dead in his apartment in Bandra, Mumbai.
Neighbour exposes Rhea-Sushant 'June 13 meeting'
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, hours after Republic Media Network brought out explosive testimony of Rhea Chakraborty's Primrose Apartments neighbour claiming that Rhea and Sushant Singh Rajput had indeed met on the evening of June 13 - a day before he died, top sources informed that the CBI will summon the June 13 eyewitness.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday had issued a statement confirming that the probe into actor Sushant Singh Rajput is still ongoing and that all aspects of the investigation are being looked into meticulously, including the homicide angle. This statement indicated that the CBI has not ruled out the homicide angle inspite of the AIIMS panel's chief Dr Sudhir Gupta's alleged leak claiming that murder had been ruled out.
The CBI statement came after Republic TV aired a conversation of Dr Sudhir Gupta from August 22 wherein he had expressed doubts over the Mumbai police's investigation and the Cooper Hospital autopsy report in the case.
Rhea Chakraborty granted bail
The CBI returns at a time when the Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted bail to actor Rhea Chakraborty, arrested over drug-related charges in actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death case. A bench of Justice Sarang Kotwal also granted bail to Rajput's aides Dipesh Sawant and Samuel Miranda but rejected the bail plea of Rhea Chakraborty's brother Showik Chakraborty, who is also an accused in the case. Rhea Chakraborty and her brother were arrested last month by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in connection with its drugs probe related to the case of Rajput's death.
Sushant Singh Rajput's death probe
Rajput was found hanging in his Bandra apartment on June 14. The Mumbai Police had earlier registered an Accidental Death Report (ADR) and launched an investigation. However, the CBI took over the probe into the high-profile case in August following the Supreme Court's nod. Rajput's father KK Singh had on July 25 lodged a complaint with the Bihar police against actor Rhea Chakraborty and her family members accusing them of abetting his suicide.
Since then, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) have started the investigation into an alleged money laundering and drug angle in connection to the actor's death. Numerous angles that have come forward in the case are yet to be investigated and persons who ostensibly should be questioned haven't. The alleged link to the death of Disha Salian has also not been investigated.
Updated 13:28 IST, October 7th 2020