Sushant Singh Rajput: CBI carrying out 'intensive probe, no aspect ruled out'

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday told BJP Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy that it is carrying out an intensive and thorough probe into the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

In a detailed reply to Swamy, Superintendent of Police, CBI, Nupur Prasad, in a letter dated December 30, said: "The CBI is conducting the investigation in a thorough and professional manner using the latest scientific techniques. During the investigation, all aspects are being looked at and no aspect has been ruled out as of date."

The CBI responded to Swamy, after he wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in connection with the CBI probe into the death of the Bollywood actor, who was found dead at his Bandra apartment on June 14.

The CBI had registered a case on August 6 this year after a notification from the Centre on the recommendations of the Bihar government. The case was based on the complaint of Sushant's father K. K. Singh to Bihar Police dated July 25.

The CBI named Sushant's former girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty, her father Indrajit Chakraborty, mother Sandhya Chakraborty, brother Showik Chakraborty, Sushant's former house manager Samuel Miranda, his former manager Shruti Modi and others in the case.

In her reply, Prasad also told Swamy that the CBI team visited Mumbai on August 20, a day after the Supreme Court gave a nod for the federal agency probe.

 She said that a team of experienced investigating officers was constituted for looking into the circumstances relating to the unnatural death of Sushant.

"The investigating team took over the case papers of Patna Police FIR and also collected the case papers from Mumbai Police," she said, adding that the team also visited all places of concern like Aligarh, Faridabad, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Gurugram's Manesar and Patna.

"The investigating team and senior officers also visited the place of incident on numerous occasions for better understanding of the circumstances related to the incident. The experts of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Delhi, which are considered to be the best in their field, also visited and examined the place of incident," she said, adding that the experts also carried out a "simulation exercise".

Forensic medicine experts also visited the place of incident, and the mortuary of Cooper Hospital and discussed the case with autopsy surgeons to understand the procedure of post-mortem adopted by them, she said.

The CBI officer further said that during the investigation, all the concerned witnesses were examined to understand the circumstances, apprehensions raised by the complainant and his family members and other independent sources.

"Intensive and thorough investigation has been carried out in this regard," she said. 

After registering the case the CBI questioned Rhea, her brother, Shruti Modi, her father Indrajit, Miranda, his flatmate Siddharth Pithani and several others. The CBI has also recorded the statements of the family members of Sushant, including his father, and sisters Rani Singh, and Mitu Singh.

"The CBI is also carrying out advanced mobile forensic equipments including latest softwares for extraction and analysis of relevant data available in the digital devices and also for analysis of dump data of the of the relevant cell tower locations related to the case," she said.

Besides the CBI, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) also registered separate cases of money laundering and drugs, respectively.

The NCB arrested Showik on September 4 and Rhea on September 7. Rhea was granted bail on October 4 while her brother was granted bail almost three months after his arrest.