CBI registers case against six people, including actor Rhea Chakraborty, her relatives and associates
Abhishek Sharan (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 7, 2020)

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday grilled Samuel Miranda as part of its probe into the alleged money-laundering aspect of the Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death by suicide at his Bandra residence in June.

ED questioned Miranda over allegations that he was part of a conspiracy led by Rajput’s girlfriend, Rhea Chakraborty, to wrongfully confine the deceased, replace his employees with their own set of employees and control his finances. Rhea and her alleged aide Miranda are among the six accused named in the First Information Report (FIR) registered by Patna’s Rajiv Nagar police station on July 25 on the complaint of Rajput’s father. The complaint formed the basis of Central Bureau of Investigation’s FIR on Thursday, and of ED’s money-laundering case registered last Friday.

According to the Patna FIR, Miranda was an alleged close aide of Chakraborty. “We are verifying allegations that the case accused had replaced Sushant’s set of employees with their own set of trusted/familiar employees, his phone/s were kept by the accused and that his financial details – like credit cards and bank accounts – were being controlled by Rhea and her accused relatives,” according to an agency source.

The agency is verifying if Rajput’s phone was allegedly shut off in December last year as part of the conspiracy to cut him off from his family, and a new phone was provided to him utilising Miranda’s identity details, the sources said.

Miranda was grilled by ED earlier as well and his statement has been recorded under provisions of the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act).

Rajput, 34, was found hanging in his Bandra apartment on June 14.

The agency had on Monday recorded the statement of Chakraborty’s chartered accountant, Sandeep Sridhar, on details related to the actor's financial activities, including his income/expenditure/investments and business forays via firms, over the past one year. Sridhar worked for the late actor over the past one year. ED has summoned Chakraborty for questioning on August 7 over the allegations levelled against her in the case. Two of her/ family assets are under the ED’s scanner. Two firms linked to Rajput and some of his financial activities allegedly involving Rhea and her brother Showik are under the ED scanner. ED will determine if there were alleged siphoning of funds from Rajput’s bank accounts and assets.

An ED team had on Monday visited a Navi Mumbai address, located at Sector 8, Ulwe, which serves as the common address of two firms, Vividrage Rhealityx Pvt Ltd and Front India For World Foundation, that are under ED's scanner. In both the firms, Rajput was a director. A case suspect was in the two firms as a director, while another was in one of the firms as a director.

The CBI on Thursday registered a case, taking over Patna police’s July 25 FIR for probe in the Rajput death case, naming as accused Chakraborty, her brother Showik, Miranda, three others and unknown persons. The case was registered under Indian Penal Code’s sections related to offences including alleged criminal conspiracy, abetment of suicide, wrongful restraint, wrongful confinement, theft, criminal breach of trust, cheating and criminal intimidation.

The case was registered by a Delhi-based CBI team led by Superintendent of Police Ravi Gambhir who is attached with the agency’s cell Anti-Corruption-6 and the Special Investigation Team that has probed high-profile cases including the AgustaWestland chopper irregularities scam.
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Meanwhile, Bihar police are likely to move SC as BMC refuses to release their Patna City SP from quarantine
Vishal Singh (MID-DAY; August 7, 2020)

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is investigating the alleged suicide of actor Sushant Singh Rajput has summoned actress Rhea Chakraborty for questioning on Friday in relation to two flats she had purchased recently. ED says there is ambiguity over who paid for the properties.

In another development, the Bihar police are likely to approach the Supreme Court (SC) against the quarantining of senior IPS officer Vinay Tiwari by the BMC and are taking legal advice from Bihar's Advocate General for the same.

This comes after Patna Police IG Sanjay Kumar Singh wrote a letter to the BMC demanding that Tiwari be exempted from home quarantine.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is investigating the alleged suicide of actor Sushant Singh Rajput has summoned actress Rhea Chakraborty for questioning on Friday in relation to two flats she has purchased recently.

According to sources in the ED, Rhea has two properties in Mumbai, one of which is in her name and the other in a relative's. ED wants to question Rhea on how she arranged the resources to buy the flats as there is ambiguity over who paid for the properties.

According to sources, Sushant had four bank accounts. Money from the account in the Kotak Mahindra Bank was allegedly transferred to Rhea's account.

"We have issued a summons to Rhea to investigate the transfer of money from Sushant's bank account. The summons has been sent via email," an ED officer said.

According to an ED officer, Sushant also had a farmhouse and a flat in Goregaon. The ED's FIR came after the actor's family registered a case with Patna police. Sushant's father K K Singh has alleged that Sushant had Rs 18 crore in his bank account, of which Rs 15 crore were siphoned off by Rhea.

ED recently questioned Rhea's Chartered Accountants Ritesh Shah and Sandeep Sridhar.