As Sushant Singh Rajput's kin and friend trade allegations, Bihar police sources say they will question his colleagues to know if he was under stress
Uma Ramasubramanian, Vishal Singh (MID-DAY; August 1, 2020)

Sushant Singh Rajput's friend, Siddharth Pithani, has claimed that he is being pressured to give a statement against Rhea Chakraborty. In an email to the Bandra police on July 28, Pithani reportedly said Rajput's family asked him questions about Chakraborty.

He claimed they questioned him about her stay at the Bandra apartment, and a senior police official related to the Rajputs asked him to issue a statement against her to the Bihar Police. The mail, which was also marked to Chakraborty, has been cited by her in her petition to the Supreme Court, seeking a transfer of the probe from Patna to Mumbai.

When mid-day reached out to Vikas Singh, legal counsel to Rajput's father Krishna Kishore Singh, he refuted the allegations of the family pressuring Pithani. "From what I know, Siddharth Pithani has decided to change sides. The family was talking to him because he was living in the [Bandra] house when it happened. Earlier, he was saying something else. He marked the copy of the mail to Rhea. Why would he mark a complaint to the accused? As far as Siddharth's credibility is concerned, it's a catch-22 situation," said Vikas.

After Singh filed a First Information Report (FIR) against Chakraborty and five others at the Rajiv Nagar police station in Patna on Tuesday, the Bihar police booked them under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating) and 306 (abetment of suicide), among others. A day later, the actor moved the Supreme Court seeking a transfer of the Patna FIR to Mumbai. "The Bihar police have discovered so much that the Mumbai police had not even touched upon. Earlier, Rhea had said that she wanted a CBI [Central Bureau of Investigation] inquiry. Now, she wants the Mumbai police to handle the probe. If she is innocent, why isn't she asking that the case be transferred to CBI?" questioned the lawyer.

Even as the case is taking an emotional toll on the family, Rajput's cousin-BJP MLA Neeraj Kumar Singh said they are in pursuit of justice. "If Rhea was emotionally attached to Sushant, why is she scared of giving her clarification to the Bihar police? Our family only wants the truth to come out, we don't want the innocent to suffer," said Neeraj.

In a recent interview, Rajput's former girlfriend Ankita Lokhande dismissed the idea of the actor battling depression. Echoing Lokhande's sentiment, Neeraj said that the past few weeks have given way to several unsubstantiated theories. "Earlier, people were saying he had a financial crisis, which turned out to be baseless. Likewise, the depression story will be proved wrong. We should leave it to the cops to investigate who was the cause of his mental stress."

Chakraborty, in a video statement last evening, said, "I have immense faith in God and the judiciary. I believe I will get justice. Even though a lot of horrible things are being said about me, I refrain from commenting on the advice of my lawyers as the matter is subjudice." Satish Maneshinde, Chakraborty's legal counsel, remained unavailable despite repeated calls.

Next Step For Bihar Police
A source from the Bihar police informs that in the coming days, the team will interrogate the cast of Rajput's last release, Dil Bechara. "Sushant was believed to be under tremendous stress during the last few weeks. So, the team wants to question the cast and crew to understand his behaviour on the set," says the source. As part of the investigation, the Bihar police have met Rajput's counsellors. "It came to light that Rhea's family members used to be present during the counselling sessions," added the source. The team will now proceed to record the statements of the doctors who performed the post-mortem. At a meeting on Friday evening, the Bihar police sought additional manpower from the Mumbai police to continue the probe. "The Bihar police has submitted an application, which has been forwarded for legal opinion," said a senior officer from the Mumbai police.