Sushant's sisters move Bombay HC; seek quashing of Mumbai Police FIR on Rhea's plaint

Actor Sushant Singh Rajputs sisters Priyanka Singh and Meetu Singh on Tuesday moved the Bombay High Court, seeking to quash the FIR registered against them by Mumbai Police for forgery and procuring fake medical prescription for their late brother.

The Bandra police lodged the FIR against the duo on September 7, based on a complaint filed by Rajput's girlfriend and actress Rhea Chakraborty, who is currently in jail in connection with a drugs case related to the actor's death. A division bench of Justices S S Shinde and M S Karnik took up the plea on Tuesday and then posted it for hearing on October 13, saying there was no urgency.

In her complaint, Chakraborty accused Rajput's sisters and Dr Tarun Kumar of the Delhi-based Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital of forging a prescription of medicines supposedly for anxiety that were prohibited under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.

As per the complaint, the medicines were for Rajput. The 34-year-old actor was found hanging at his residence in suburban Bandra on June 14 this year. In the petition, Rajput's sisters claimed the FIR was filed based just on media reports and that the complaint was fraught with material irregularities and discrepancies.

They also said there was an inordinate delay of 90 days in lodging the complaint the medicines were prescribed on June 8, the day Rajput asked Chakraborty to leave his house, and the complaint was lodged on September 7.

The petition by way of interim relief has sought a direction to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), to whom the FIR against petitioners has been handed over by police, from taking any coercive steps against them.

The CBI is already probing a complaint lodged by Rajput's father KK Singh, who accused Rhea Chakraborty and her family of abetting his son's suicide.

"A bare perusal of the complaint and the FIR shows it does not make out any cognisable offence. The drugs that have sought to be allegedly given by Dr Tarun Kumar are not banned drugs, the petition said.

There is no evidence to show the medicine prescribed was administered to Rajput or anyone else, it said. "There is nothing in the FIR to suggest that the petitioners had used the prescription to buy the alleged drugs from any third party or induced it to Rajput, the plea said.

"The present FIR has been lodged on a very vague complaint based on alleged conjectures and surmises with an ulterior motive to frame the petitioners (Priyanka and Meetu), it said. The plea alleged that Rhea Chakraborty was tarnishing Rajput's image by suggesting he was suffering from mental illnesses and was a drug addict. 

(With PTI inputs)