MUMBAI: The Bihar government on Friday (August 7) filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court stating that the transfer petition filed by actress Rhea Chakraborty, who is accused of criminal conspiracy and abetment of suicide in Sushant Singh Rajput death case, is ‘misconceived and not maintainable’.
The affidavit, filed by Bihar SSP, has named Rhea Chakraborty as prime accused in Sushant death case and accused the actress and her family of coming in contact with the ‘Kedarnath’ star with the sole intention of grabbing his money. It also states that the actress painted a false picture of his mental illeness and claimed that she took Sushant to her house and used to give her an overdose of medicines.
The affidavit states that while Mumbai Police did not cooperate with the Bihar Police which had gone to the city to probe Sushant’s death case, it observed that the team found several leads in the investigation.
It told the apex court that it recommended the CBI probe into Sushant SIngh Rajput death case looking at sensitivity of matter and inter-state ramification
Rhea was summoned to appear before the Enforcement Directorate on Friday in a separate money laundering case related to Sushant death case. However, advocate Satush Manshinde in a statement said that the actress has sought postponement of her interrogation and recording of her statement in the matter till the Supreme Court concludes its hearing on her petition. The ED, meanwhile, has rejected her request of exempting her from appearing before the agency.
The ED is probing the financial angle in Sushant’s death case and has named Rhea under the PMLA, after an FIR was registered against her by Sushant’s father at a Patna police station. Singh had alleged financial irregularities in bank accounts of the Patna-born Rajput (34), who was found hanging in his suburban Bandra residence on June 14.
The ED had on July 31 registered a money laundering case against Chakraborty and her family, and directed her to appear before the central agency’s Mumbai office on Friday (August 7).
The agency had on Thursday interrogated Rhea’s manager and co-associate Samuel Miranda for nearly 10 hours in the case. The agency had also summoned her former manager Shruti Modi in the case.
The CBI had on August 6 registered a case against Rhea and five others, including her brother and parents, in Sushant’s death case after the central government accepted the Bihar government’s probe request in the matter.
As per sources, Rhea was last seen on August 1, when she left her home with her family, as per her building watchman.
Earlier, The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday rejected actress Rhea Chakraborty’s request seeking postponement of her recording the statement till her Supreme Court plea hearing.
According to sources, “the ED has asked Rhea Chakraborty to join the probe. Her request has been denied and no exemption given by ED.”
In an email sent to the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday night, Rhea had urged the financial probe agency to defer its inquiry in the case since the matter is still pending in the court. In a statement, Rhea’s counsel Satish Manshinde said: “Rhea Chakraborty has requested that the recording of her statement be postponed till Supreme Court hearing.”
Also, it has been learnt from sources that ED will now quiz Sushant’s friend Siddharth Pithani in Hyderabad on Saturday (August 8, 2020).
The ED is likely to register Rhea Chakraborty’s absence as non-compliance of summons.
The Enforcement Directorate had registered a money laundering case against Rhea under Personal Money Laundering Act (PMLA) involving the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, a team of the financial probe agency reached the residence of Chartered Accountant Sandeep Sridhar and quizzed him a few days back.
Rhea’s associate Samuel Miranda and her CA Ritesh Shah were also probed in relation to the death of the actor.
The ED came into action after the case was registered by the ED against Rhea and her family members. It was over Rs 15 crore amount which was allegedly spent by Rhea. The sum was withdrawn from Sushant’s account, reportedly.
It was after Sushant’s father KK Singh had filed an FIR against Rhea in Patna. The ED has named Rhea and her family members in the case on the basis of the Bihar Police FIR.
