CBI Should Hand Over Sushant Singh Rajput’s Death Probe to Mumbai Police: Maharashtra Tells SC

It questioned the “bonafide of all involved in this exercise” of transfer of the FIR in Patna to CBI, and added that the action of the Patna Police in registering the FIR smacked of “malice” and “malafides”, further violating the principles of cooperative federalism.

The Inspector’s affidavit also attacked Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar in pursuing the matter in Patna, saying the registration of the FIR at Patna was “politically motivated and due to extraneous reasons.”

The affidavit stated that even on an assumption that CBI could take over, it could only register a Zero FIR and must now transfer the investigations back to Bandra Police Station since that is the jurisdictional police station in this case.

Besides, the Inspector has emphasised that CBI cannot investigate in Mumbai till the time it gets a specific consent from the state government under the Delhi Special Establishment Act.

Inspector BM Balnekar is also the investigating officer of the Accidental Death Report (ADR) registered to inquire into the death of the Bollywood actor on June 14.

Balnekar, in his affidavit, has also accused Sushant’s father and his family of changing version at a later stage while they did not raise any suspicion when their “first” statements were recorded by the Bandra Police.

Sushant’s version to Patna Police is “tainted with afterthoughts”, alleged the affidavit.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi will represent the state government on Tuesday when a single judge bench of Justice Hrishikesh Roy takes up the matter.

As per the orders of the bench, the investigation reports have been submitted in the court in a sealed cover envelope.