The CBI on Friday questioned Bollywood actor Rhea Chakraborty and several others in connection with the Sushant Singh Rajput death case.
Among those interrogated by the probe team were Ms. Chakraborty’s brother, Showik; Sushant’s flatmate, Siddharth Pithani; his housekeeping manager, Samuel Miranda; and cook, Neeraj. Some others were summoned at the CBI’s office in Mumbai.
During the over eight-hour questioning, Ms. Chakraborty was confronted with the alleged disclosures by some witnesses and other suspects for verification of facts. In her statement to the media, she had refuted all the charges against her.
Ms. Chakraborty, Mr. Showik, their father Indrajit, her former manager Shruti Modi and two others are accused in the case that was earlier registered by the Patna police on a complaint from Sushant’s father, K.K. Singh. He has alleged abetment of suicide, criminal conspiracy, cheating, wrongful restraint/confinement and theft.
The CBI took over the case on August 6 after a reference from the Bihar police. A team of CBI officials reached Mumbai to conduct investigation on the ground only after the Supreme Court gave the go-ahead.
Sushant was found dead at his Mumbai residence of June 14. The CBI team visited the house to examine the room where he died. It also recorded the statement of Sushant’s cook and a few others who were present in the house when the incident took place.
Testimonies of Mr. Singh and other family members of Sushant were earlier recorded by the CBI in Haryana's Faridabad and Mumbai.
ED, NCB probe
Based on the FIR earlier lodged with the Patna police, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has been conducting a money laundering probe. The agency has already questioned Ms. Chakraborty and others. It has now summoned Jaya Saha, an executive with a talent management company, who was in touch with Ms. Chakraborty .
While pursuing the leads, the ED retrieved some deleted messages from the mobile phone of Ms. Chakraborty, which allegedly suggested the role of certain persons dealing in controlled or banned drugs. Therefore, the ED wrote to the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) , which registered a separate case under the NDPS Act to pursue the drug angle.
Under the NCB scanner are Ms. Chakraborty, Samuel, Jaya, one Simone Khambatta and Gaurav Arya. The ED probe has revealed that Ms. Chakraborty had allegedly got the PIN details of Sushant's debit card through Samuel. The conversations have also revealed procurement and use of narcotic substances, including marijuana, cannabis and cannabidiol, an oil.
The impugned message exchanges took place in April-May 2020, November last and March 2017.