Sushant Singh Rajput death case: CBI forms three teams to take investigation forward, say sources

After the Supreme Court gave its nod for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, the Special Investigation Team of the central agency on Thursday chalked out its strategy for the probe. The SIT arrived in Mumbai on August 20 evening and will stay at the DRDO guest house in the Santa Cruz area of the city.

The CBI team, led by CBI Superintendent of Police Nupur Prasad has formed three teams to take the investigation forward, according to sources. The first team will examine all the case diaries, related to the case, that it got from the Mumbai Police, forensic report of Mumbai and autopsy report.

At the same time, the second team will take the statement of the people involved in this case, which includes all those people whose statements were taken by the Mumbai Police.

While the third team will go to Sushant's flat with the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) experts and recreate the entire scene once again. This team of CBI has three Physicists and six Scientists from 3 Chemistry division who will study the hanging the incident.

At the same time, a team of CBI will interrogate the people associated with this case as well as those who live in that area or keep coming or who have knowledge about the people of that area. With this, the CBI will scan CCTV footage of the entire area for June 14.

The CBI has also prepared a list of questions asked to all the accused, including Riya Chakraborty and after getting different answers, the accused can be questioned face to face.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has announced that the CBI team has been exempted from home quarantine. A BMC official said the central investigation agency had applied for exemption from the home quarantine rule. "They are on official duty and sought an exemption from quarantine norms. They have been given exemption from the home quarantine rule," said the official. The team is likely to stay in the city for around 10 days, another official said.

As per Maharashtra Government norms, government officials on important duty and doctors on COVID-19 duty are exempt from the home quarantine rule for a period of seven days but have to apply to BMC for an exemption if they plan to stay in the city for over a week.

The CBI team, which includes forensic experts, landed at Mumbai airport around 7.30 pm, an official said, adding it will visit the actor's residence, where he was found dead. Mumbai police will hand over evidence collected in the case to CBI and will help in the investigation, he said.

The Supreme Court had on August 19 upheld the transfer of an FIR, lodged at Patna against actress Rhea Chakraborty and others for allegedly abetting Rajput's suicide, to the CBI. The apex court said that the Bihar government is competent to transfer the case to the CBI for investigation.

The top court delivered its verdict on a plea by Chakraborty who had sought transfer of the FIR lodged against her at Patna to Mumbai.
Rajput, 34, was found hanging from the ceiling of his apartment in suburban Bandra in Mumbai on June 14 and since then Mumbai Police has been probing the case keeping in mind various angles.

While pronouncing the verdict, the bench said that if any other case is registered regarding Rajput's death, the same shall be probed by the CBI only. It said that jurisdiction of Mumbai Police, which is conducting probe under section 174 of the CrPC which deals with the procedure to be followed in cases of unnatural death and suicide, is limited.