Eight erstwhile top police officers of Bombay police moved the Bombay high court on 31st August over what they called trial by media in the Sushant Singh Rajput case and the maligning of the Bombay police. Retired top cops like M.N. Singh, P.S. Pasricha, K. Subramanyam, D.N. Jadhav, D. Shivanandan, Sanjeev Dayal, S.C. Mathur and K.P. Raghuvanshi filed a PIL in the court, which was heard alongwith similar PILs on 3rd September.
The court remarked, “We urge and expect the media to exercise restraint in reporting of the investigation with respect to the death, which would not hamper investigation in any manner.” The division bench of Justices A.A. Sayed and S.P. Tavade of the Bombay high court has asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to make its stance clear on the issue. Senior advocate Milind Sathe, appearing for the police officers, said, “Journalists are undermining the investigation. Who are journalists to give direction to the investigation? They are creating an impression in the mind of the general public. Their reporting is completely defamatory and inaccurate.” Sathe said that the retired cops were concerned about the maligning of the image of Bombay police. He also pointed out that the media was conducting a parallel probe. He explained that the transferring of the case by the Supreme Court to the CBI had in no way undermined the investigation done by the Bombay police.
The bench expressed surprise that none of the channels and the CBI had not appeared before the court despite notices being served to them by the petitioners via email. The case was adjourned to next week.