Sushant Singh death: CBI examined over 1k social media posts

Mumbai: Officers from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) trawled through over 1,000 social media posts, forensic and technical evidence, opinions of top medico-legal experts and call data records to rule out any foul play in the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput in 2020, sources from the investigation agency told Hindustan Times on Sunday.

“The probe team did a meticulous job in the case. It focussed on gathering evidence to establish facts and went through over 1,000 social media/ blog posts which alleged foul play, but did not find any truth in them,” said a CBI officer familiar with the probe which spanned nearly four years.

Rajput was found hanging from the ceiling of his apartment in Bandra on June 14, 2020 and two cases were registered following his death – one in Patna based on a complaint by the actor’s father KK Singh, in which six persons including the actor’s erstwhile girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty were charged with abetment to suicide; and one in Bandra based on a complaint by Chakraborty, in which Rajput’s sisters and others were booked for abetment of suicide.

The Patna case was taken over the CBI on August 6, 2020 following directions from the central government and the same was approved by the Supreme Court on October 19, 2020. Later, the Bandra case was also handed over to the CBI.

As reported by HT on Sunday, the investigating agency has submitted its closure report in both cases, giving a clean chit to his former girlfriend as well as family members and confirming that the actor took his own life.

The agency, while probing the case, gathered and examined forensic evidence from various locations, technical evidence from the United States and statements of various persons connected to the case, sources told HT.

“We gathered crucial case-related details and documents from Mumbai police, which conducted the initial probe,” said a CBI officer. From Mumbai police, the CBI team collected statements of 56 persons, spot panchnama report, autopsy report, Rajput’s mobile phones and laptop, his call data records, the clothes he was wearing at the time of the suicide, the blanket and bedsheet found in the room, the piece of cloth used in the hanging and the mug he had juice from that morning, the officer added.

The CBI team also sought the opinion of experts from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on medico-legal aspects. In October 2020, it received the report from the AIIMS forensic experts’ panel, which found that Rajput’s death was due to hanging and suicide. Following submission of the report to the CBI, the then chairman of the AIIMS forensic medical board had told the media, “It is a case of hanging and death by suicide.”

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which had conducted a money-laundering probe following Rajput’s death, had found nothing suspicious in his financial transactions in its preliminary investigation. ED is yet to submit its probe’s findings to the court.

HT attempted to contact Rajput’s family’s lawyer for a comment on CBI’s closure reports,  but could not reach him.