Team Rhea accuses Sushant’s family of ‘interference’ in probe

Mumbai (IANS) – Accusing the family of Sushant Singh Rajput and their legal advisors of “interfering and tampering with the investigations”, Team Rhea Chakraborty’s lawyers have warned that they will bring it to the notice of the appropriate courts.

Advocate Satish Maneshinde, who represents Rhea Chakraborty and her brother Showik, said that the kin and lawyers of the late actor are raising doubts on the probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and also the conclusions of the AIIMS forensic team.

“The CBI is independently and impartially investigating both the cases and the agency is supposed to be insulated and free from any interference,” Maneshinde said, referring to the probe into the actor’s death and the offshoot drugs cases.

However, he said it is disturbing to learn that Sushant’s family and their lawyers “are interfering and tampering with the investigations”, putting pressure on the AIIMS team by speaking to them during investigations and releasing purported audio conversations and information to the media in order to pressurise and tamper with the potential witnesses.

“Sushant’s family lawyer (Vikas Singh) is supposed to have said that he is going to meet the CBI Director to get the family’s pre-determined path of investigations into SSR’s death. It is very disturbing to read such information in the media as attempts are being made to get a pre-determined result in the case,” Maneshinde pointed out.

He made it clear that if “any further attempts” are made in this direction, it would be brought to the notice of the appropriate courts.

Maneshinde’s statement came shortly after a Mumbai Special Court extended the judicial custody of Rhea and Showik by another fortnight till October 20.

Meanwhile, in a related development, Sushant’s sisters — Priyanka Singh (New Delhi) and Meetu Singh (Mumbai) — recently moved the Bombay High Court to get the FIR lodged against them by Rhea, accusing them of administering medicines based on a bogus prescription, quashed.

“A bare perusal of the complaint and the FIR shows that it does not make out any cognisable offence. The drugs that have sought to be allegedly given by Tarun Kumar are not banned drugs,” the petition said.

Maneshinde said both the FIRs registered in a Patna police station by Sushant’s father Krishna Kishore Singh and the complaint by Rhea against the late actor’s sisters in the Bandra police station have been forwarded to the CBI.

Rhea, 28, and Showik, 24, are among the 20 people, including several drug peddlers, suppliers and Bollywood-linked personalities, who have been arrested in connection with the NCB’s probe into the narcotics angle in Sushant’s case.

Rhea and Showik had applied for bail in the Bombay High Court, on which the final arguments were heard on September 29 by Justice S.V. Kotwal, who had reserved the final order on it.