Sushant Singh Rajput case: Inputs about medical panel's report on death should be obtained from CBI, says AIIMS

In a major development, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Monday said the medical board has submitted its report on the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput to the CBI and any input regarding it should be obtained from the central probe agency.

The medical board has ruled out murder in the death of Rajput, terming it "a case of hanging and death by suicide", the premier institute's forensic chief Dr Sudhir Gupta had said last week.

In its conclusive medico-legal opinion to the CBI, the six-member team dismissed the claims of "poisoning and strangling", with Dr Gupta saying the panel did not find any trace of poison and drugs in the viscera. However, on Monday, the AIIMS said in a statement, "A medical board was constituted by Dr Sudhir Gupta, Head of the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology AIIMS, New Delhi as per request received by him from CBI for providing expert opinion in the case relating to the death of Sushant Singh Rajput."

"The medical board has submitted the report directly to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as required. Being a legal matter, any inputs on the report submitted by the medical board would have to be obtained from the CBI," it said.

The statement follows certain media reports questioning the outcome of the medical board's examination and Dr Gupta's comments ruling out murder.

Rajput's family lawyer Vikas Singh had said on October 4 that he was highly perturbed by the AIIMS' medico-legal opinion submitted to the CBI and would request the probe agency's chief to constitute a fresh forensic team in the case. "How could AIIMS team give a conclusive report in the absence of the body, that too on such a shoddy post mortem done by the Cooper hospital (in Mumbai) wherein the time of death is also not mentioned," he tweeted.

On October 3, Dr Gupta had said, "It is a case of hanging and death by suicide. We have submitted our conclusive report to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI),"

There was no injury on the body other than that of hanging. Also, there was no mark of struggle and scuffle. The ligature mark on the neck was consistent with hanging, he had said. The doctors' panel did not find any trace of poison and drugs in the viscera, Dr Gupta had told PTI, but refused to divulge any further details stating the case is subjudice.

Rajput, 34, who made his silver screen debut in the critically acclaimed 'Kai Po Che' seven years ago, was found dead in his apartment in suburban Bandra in Mumbai on June 14.

The CBI had taken over the probe from Bihar Police into the alleged abetment to suicide case filed by the actor's father K K Singh in Patna against Rajput's girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty and her family.