It had to happen. And it has happened. Four-and-a-half years after it began probing the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, the CBI has closed the case and given a clean chit to actress Rhea Chakraborty. This brings to an end the case which had gripped the nation and which was easily one of the most controversial crime cases in modern times.
Sushant was found dead in his flat at Bandra in Bombay on June 14, 2020, six days after his manager for a brief time, Disha Salian, fell off the 14th floor of a building at Malad in Bombay and died.
The CBI has filed a closure report in two of the cases it was investigating. While one case was filed in August 2021 in Patna by Sushant’s father against Rhea, her brother and other family members, the other was filed in September 2021 by Rhea against Sushant’s sister and doctor. The closure report in both the cases was filed in a special Bombay court.
According to Rhea’s lawyer, Satish Maneshinde, “Rhea Chakraborty had to undergo untold miseries and was behind bars for 27 days for no fault of hers until Justice Sarang V. Kotwal released her on bail. I salute her and her family for having kept silent and suffered the inhuman treatment they were meted out. Innocent people were hounded and paraded before the media and investigative authorities. I hope this does not repeat in any case.”
The Bombay police, which first probed the death case of Sushant Singh Rajput, termed it a case of suspected suicide although no suicide note was found. Quite coincidentally, just three days prior to the closure of the Sushant Singh Rajput case, Disha Salian’s father had alleged that his daughter had been gangraped and murdered, and he filed a plea demanding a CBI probe into her death. He also alleged that Sushant was visibly scared and repeatedly expressed fear that “those people” responsible for her death would not spare him and that he would be killed. Disha’s father has concluded that the death of his daughter and the death of Sushant were interconnected and part of a larger conspiracy.
The CBI FIR in Rajput’s case named Rhea, her brother, Showik, and her parents, besides her associates Samuel Miranda and Shruti Modi. The FIR, initially filed by the Bihar police, had sections of IPC related to criminal conspiracy, abetment of suicide, wrongful restraint, wrongful confinement, theft, criminal breach of trust, cheating and criminal intimidation. An FIR was registered against Rhea in Patna on July 28, 2020, and a team of Bihar police reached Bombay to investigate the case.
The Enforcement Directorate started money laundering investigations and interrogated Rhea but found no evidence against her. The Narcotics Control Bureau initiated a probe against Rhea and others on allegations of procurement of drugs for Sushant, which led to her arrest. In August 2021, the CBI filed an FIR against Rhea and others, and the ED too summoned her for questioning.
In September 2021, Rhea filed an FIR against Sushant’s sisters and doctor, which was transferred to the CBI as well. This case has also now been closed.