Central agency will reconstruct incident, examine accused
Abhishek Sharan (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 21, 2020)

A CBI team from Delhi, along with experts from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory of India (CFSL), reached Mumbai on Thursday evening to start its probe into the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. The team is likely to undertake a reconstruction of the incident at the late actor’s Bandra flat, where his body was found hanging on June 14.

Sources said the agency will examine case records and evidence, including autopsy report, case diary, panchnama and statements of 56 people recorded earlier by the Mumbai police. The agency may meet Mumbai police’s team conducting the accidental death probe.

The agency’s team is also likely to question the accused in the case, including Rajput’s girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty, and witnesses.

The agency will question the four people who had found Rajput’s body about what had transpired in the flat on the day of the incident and hours/ days before that to understand the circumstances related to the suicide and for its reconstruction, sources said.

The CFSL team will accompany the CBI team to Rajput’s Bandra flat to trace/gather forensic evidence, the sources said. The CBI team is led by Superintendent of Police (SP), Nupur Prasad, and around a dozen CFSL officials.


ED records Rumy Jafry’s statement
The ED on Thursday recorded the statement of filmmaker Rumy Jafry in connection with its money laundering probe into the case. The director’s statement was recorded in relation to his reported plans of directing a movie with the late actor and the finances involved in this upcoming project.
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Officers of the central agency will do a detailed enactment of Sushant Singh Rajput's last moments, with all the witnesses present in the house
Faizan Khan (MID-DAY; August 21, 2020)

A day after the Supreme Court paved the way for a CBI probe in the Sushant Singh Rajput case, the 16-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the central agency landed in Mumbai to take over the probe. Sources said CBI officers will visit Mont Blanc building where the actor allegedly committed suicide and recreate the incident in the presence of witnesses.

Deputy Inspector General of CBI's Anti-Corruption Wing in Mumbai, Suvez Haque has been appointed as the nodal officer to coordinate with the city police. Sources said that he has already contacted the Mumbai police for all the case files and documents, which will be submitted to the SIT. The SIT will be led by senior IPS officer Manoj Shashidhar and will include DIG Gagandeep Gambhir, SP Nupur Prasad and DSP Anil Kumar Yadav. Meanwhile, sources said that the state government was unlikely to challenge the SC verdict.

Divided Into Three Teams
The sources further said that the CBI would start investigating the matter from the beginning and in order to recreate the incident, they will use a dummy of Sushant's height and weight. The witnesses would be questioned individually and if any contradictory statements come to the fore, they would be interrogated face to face.

The SIT has been divided into three teams to speed up the investigation. According to sources, one team will record the statements of witnesses and question actress Rhea Chakraborty and her family, the second team will look into the forensic evidence and meet the doctors who have conducted the post mortem, and the third team will look into the investigation carried out by the Mumbai police. The CBI will also try to ascertain whether the professional rivalry angle is relevant.

"Our investigation will not be limited to the abetment of suicide case. We will probe all possible angles. We cannot comment more as we are yet to see the case file," a CBI officer said.

So far the city police have recorded the statements of 56 people and haven't found any foul play.

'Thoroughly Investigated'
"The matter has been thoroughly investigated. Even the doctors' statements have been recorded. The postmortem report confirmed death due to asphyxia. The toxicology report and other forensic reports also ruled out foul play," said a Mumbai police officer. The angles from which the city police investigated the matter include Sushant's depression, his recent relationships, professional rivalry, financial distress and negative media reports.

The investigation team from Bandra police recorded the statements of the actor's family members, his girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty and others who were close to him. As far as the professional rivalry angle is concerned, the cops recorded the statements of Aditya Chopra, Mahesh Bhatt, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and others. They also recorded the statements of several journalists who have written negative articles on the actor. "Our investigation is still on and if we reach any logical conclusion, we will act accordingly. If we find any evidence regarding crime committed, then we will register an FIR and transfer the case to CBI as per the apex court's order," the officer added.