ED questions SSR’s former staff, who took care of his expenses

Mumbai (IANS) – The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has questioned the personal staff of late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, including his domestic help, in connection with a money laundering case, but Pankaj Dubey, a close friend of the late actor is not among those questioned by the financial probe agency, officials said on Saturday.

According to top ED officials, the agency recorded the statements of Rajat Mewati and Dipesh Sawant on Friday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

The official said that Sawant was the servant at Sushant’s residence and he was among the five people who saw the body of the late actor at his Bandra flat on June 14.

The ED did not question Dubey. An ED source regretted citing the name of Dubey while speaking to IANS earlier.

Mewati, who was the accountant of Sushant, was asked about the finances and accounts of the late actor. The ED asked him why he left his job and who used to give him instructions for payments. They specifically wanted to know whether the actor’s girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty also gave him instructions.

Sushant’s former girlfriend Ankita Lokhande also shared copies of her bank statements on social media soon after reports emerged claiming the late actor was paying EMIs for her flat.

“Here I cease all the speculations. As transparent as I could be. My Flat’s Registration as well as my Bank Statement’s (01/01/19 to 01/03/20) highlighting the EMIs being deducted from my account on monthly basis. There is nothing more I have to say,” Ankita wrote on her verified Twitter account in the early hours of Saturday, sharing copies of her bank statements from January 2019 to March 2020.

Ankita’s tweet have come hours after a report in indiatoday.in claimed that Sushant was paying instalments worth Rs 4.5 crore for a flat in Malad, where Ankita “allegedly” resides. The report stated that they have received this piece of information from sources at ED.

The report emerged on Friday evening and Ankita tweeted denying the same just a few minutes after midnight.

Lokhande has been vocal since the death of Sushant on June 14 and has been demanding a CBI probe into the matter. She has been continuously backing the claims of the late actor’s family.

The ED has taken over the probe on the basis of an FIR filed by the late actor’s father, K.K. Singh, with the Bihar Police.

K.K. Singh in his complaint to Bihar Police on July 25 had alleged that Rs 15 crore was withdrawn or transferred from his son’s Kotak Mahindra Bank account, following which the ED registered a case under the PMLA against Rhea and her family members on July 31.

–IANS
aks/in