'Sushant Singh's Father Pursuing Case': SC Dismisses Law Student's Plea For Probe Into Actor's Death

The Supreme Court dismissed a plea filed by a law student, seeking for directions to the State of Bihar to transfer the investigation pertaining to the alleged suicide of Sushant Singh Rajput to either CBI or NIA in wake of the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde heard the matter and noted that Rajput's father was already pursuing the case, and that a law student did not have any reason to venture into it.

In today's proceedings, Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta submitted that though he was not appearing in the case, he wished to submit that the CBI had already taken over the Patna FIR. However, with respect to Mumbai, it is yet to be transferred. The CJI observed that CBI had already registered an FIR and that made the plea infructuous.

This was opposed by Advocate Subhash Jha, appearing on behalf of the law student, who submitted that the Mumbai Police had not registered an FIR in compliance with Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. He further averred that the CBI probe was only confined within Bihar as per the notification issued by the State of Bihar and that the Maharashtra Government did not want the probe.

The CJI then questioned Jha about why a law student was pursuing the matter when the father of the deceased had already filed a plea.

"We will dismiss the plea without reasons. The father is pursuing the case. You are a total stranger in the case and we will not entertain the plea".

Jha attempted to put forth his arguments that nothing would remain by the time CBI took over the case. This was brushed aside by the CJI who told him not to make "irresponsible statements".

In light of the above, the plea was dismissed.

The petition came at the heels of the notification issued yesterday by the Government of India which states that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will be taking over the investigation. Further, CBI also registered an FIR against actor Rhea Chakraborty and five of her family members under offences in the Indian Penal Code pertaining to 306 (abetment to suicide), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement), 380 (theft in dwelling house), 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust), 420 (Cheating), and 120B (Criminal conspiracy).

Filed by Advocate Manoj K. Mishra on behalf of law student Dwivendra Devtadeen Dubey, the plea contends that the "Hindi Film industry is dominated by certain elements" which could not match up with the vivacious personality of Rajput, and thus, he became an eyesore for them.

As many perceived Rajput to be their competitor/threat, the plea submits that "a systematic campaign was triggered against him to ensure that his career in the Hindi film industry is ruined, and in the process, one after the other as many as seven films which Sushant had bagged were snatched away from him for some reason or the other in or about the year 2020…".

In light of the above, the petition sought for directions to either CBI or NIA to conduct the investigation with regard to the "involvement/investment/nexus of the underworld, anti-national forces, hawala operators, drug lords etc. with the Bollywood and submit their detailed report" to the Apex Court.