The Bombay High Court on August 21 disposed of a bunch of public interest litigations (PILs) seeking various reliefs, including a CBI probe into the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
A Bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Revati Mohite-Dere said since the Supreme Court had already directed the CBI to probe the matter , nothing remained for the HC to decide.
The Bench also said if the petitioners felt that the Maharashtra government, the Mumbai Police, or the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) were not cooperating with the CBI , they could approach the Supreme Court.
Advocate Subhash Jha, the counsel for one of the petitioners, told the court that considering how the BMC had forced a Bihar police official into quarantine when he came to the city to probe the case, the civic body might do the same with the CBI officials who visit Mumbai for probe.
The Bench, however, said that Mr. Jha was expressing a mere apprehension and that he could go to the Supreme Court if the BMC indeed did so.
“Let it happen first,” the Bench said. “Let the BMC face the music before the SC if there is any impediment for the CBI when it comes here. The CBI is here on the orders of the Supreme Court,” the Bench noted.
The court was presiding over two pleas, one filed by law student Dwivendra Dubey, and another by lawyer Priyanak Tibrewal.
A CBI team has already landed in Mumbai and started probe into the actor’s death. The BMC has exempted the visiting CBI personnel from home quarantine rules which have been put in place to curb the spread of COVID-19.
