Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case: SC to hear Rhea Chakraborty’s plea on August 5

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The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on August 5 a plea filed by actress Rhea Chakraborty who has sought transfer of an FIR, lodged against her in connection with the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, from Patna to Mumbai.

As per the cause list uploaded on the apex court’s website, the transfer petition filed by Chakraborty will come up for hearing before a bench of Justice Hrishikesh Roy on Wednesday.

Rajput, aged 34, was found hanging from the ceiling of his apartment in suburban Bandra in Mumbai on June 14 and since then the Mumbai Police has been probing the case keeping in mind various angles.

Governments of Bihar and Maharashtra have already filed caveat in the top court seeking to be heard before any order is passed on Chakraborty’s plea in which she has sought transfer of the FIR, lodged against her and others for alleged offence of abetment of suicide, from Patna to Mumbai.

Krishna Kishore Singh, father of the late actor, has also filed a caveat in the apex court in the matter.

Caveat is a pre-emptive legal measure taken to ensure that a party does not get any favourable order without a notice or a hearing accorded to the opponent. On July 25, Rajput’s father had lodged an FIR at Rajiv Nagar police station in Patna against Chakraborty and six others, including her family members, accusing them of abetting the actor’s suicide.

In her plea filed in the apex court, Chakraborty has alleged that Rajput’s father has used his “influence” in roping her in FIR lodged at Patna in Bihar accusing her of abetment of suicide of his son.

The actress has said in her plea that she was in a live-in relationship with Rajput and has been in deep trauma due to the death of the actor and moreover getting rape and death threats.

“It is pertinent to mention that the deceased and petitioner were in live-in relationship since a year up till June 8, 2020 when the petitioner had temporarily shifted to her own residence in Mumbai,” she has said in her plea.

Chakraborty has also said in her plea that, “The deceased (Rajput) was suffering from depression for some time and was also on anti-depressants and he committed suicide on the morning of June 14, 2020 at his Bandra residence by hanging himself.”

She has said in her plea that it becomes abundantly clear that the commencement of investigation in Patna is erroneous in absence of any cause of action having arisen at Patna.

The entire cause of action as alleged in the FIR had arisen at Bandra in Mumbai, her plea has said.

An FIR has been registered against her and others at Patna for alleged offences under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 306 (abetment of suicide), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement), 380 (theft in dwelling house), 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property).

On July 30, the top court had junked a separate plea, filed by one Alka Priya, seeking transfer of probe into Rajput’s death case from the Mumbai Police to the CBI.