Vijay V Singh (THE TIMES OF INDIA; August 24, 2020)

Mumbai: A CBI team visited Cooper Hospital on Saturday and questioned two of the five doctors who had conducted the post-mortem on actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Based on the statements of his domestic helps who were present in the flat, the CBI also recreated the last few hours leading up to his death on June 14.

The actor was found dead in his Bandra flat and city police have termed it a suicide. The CBI is investigating an FIR initially registered by the Patna police accusing Sushant’s girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty and others of abetment to suicide.

Doctors at Cooper Hospital had collected the actor’s viscera and blood sample along with a sample of the ligature mark. The report by the state forensic lab at Kalina which examined the samples had termed it a suicide and ruled out poisoning. The CBI will send these samples to the central forensic laboratory in Chandigarh, sources said. “The urine sample of the deceased was not collected for examination which is crucial to establish the presence of any intoxicant in his body at the time of the death,” said the source.

The CBI team has already questioned Rajput’s friend Siddharth Pithani as well as his house helps Neeraj Singh and Deepesh Sawant. The three were the first to see the actor’s body. Forensic experts along with the CBI officials have examined the later actor’s flat. The CBI has also recorded the statement of Rajput’s house manager, Samuel Miranda, who was appointed by Rhea. CBI is also cross-examining the statements of witnesses. Sources stated most of the CBI investigation will be dependent on forensic examination and post-mortem reports to ascertain the cause of the death.

Meanwhile, the CBI has collected most of the evidence from the Bandra police for examination.