The Bombay high court on 7th August refused to pass any order in the matter of two petitions filed for transferring the case of Sushant Singh Rajput’s death to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as the Supreme Court was seized of the matter. The bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Dutta and Justice A.S. Gadkari of the high court said, “The Supreme Court is already seized of the matter and has also sought a status report from the Maharashtra government on the probe being conducted by the Bombay police. Hence we cannot rush into hearing the pleas.” The two petitions, raising concerns over the probe by the Bombay police, were filed by Nagpur resident Sameet Thakkar, and Priyanka Tibrewal, a practising lawyer in the Calcutta high court.
During the hearing of the petitions, additional solicitor general Anil Singh, appearing for the Union government, questioned the Bombay police’s handling of the case. He told the court that the CBI had already registered a case against Rhea Chakraborty and five others, based on the complaint filed by Sushant’s father, K.K. Singh, in Bihar. The high court bench observed that while hearing petitions seeking transfer of investigations to the CBI, courts must be cautious and should use their discretion to transfer the probe, only sparingly.