Bollywood actress Rhea Chakraborty's lawyer has accused Sushant Singh Rajput's family of trying to interfere with the investigation into his death being carried out by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and two other agencies.
“The agencies are being pressured to reach a predetermined result for obvious reasons on the eve of Bihar Elections,” said Rhea’s lawyer Satish Maneshinde in a statement on Saturday.
He also referred to the voluntary retirement of Bihar's top cop Gupteshwar Pandey, who played a pivotal role in the transfer of the Rajput death case.
The other aspects of Sushant’s death case are being investigated by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the economic intelligence agency.
The latest allegation by Rhea’s lawyer came on Saturday in response to Sushant’s family making some remarks to accelerate the investigation into the case a day earlier.
On Friday, Sushant’s father's lawyer, Vikas Singh, expressed his frustration over the delay by top investigative body the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). It has been looking into the case since last month and was supposed to submit a conclusive report on 22 September.
Singh tweeted, “The doctor who is part of the AIIMS team told me long ago that the photos sent by me indicated 200% that it’s a death by strangulation and not suicide.”
Dr. Sudhir Gupta, who is leading the team of AIIMS hospital, however, has denied Singh's claims.
Talking to India Today news website, Dr. Gupta said, "The investigation is still going on. What he is saying is not correct. We can’t conclude simply on murder or suicide based on just ligature marks and the crime scene. We need more investigation which is still going on."
Hitting back at Singh and the AIIMS doctors, Chakraborty's lawyer has demanded that the new medical board perform Sushant’s forensic test.
He said, “Disclosure of a conclusion by an AIIMS Doctor in a team headed by Dr Gupta in Sushant Singh Rajput's death case, on basis of photographs is a dangerous trend.”
Meanwhile, the Central Government Minister Ramdas Athawale on Saturday said the CBI should also come to a conclusion soon.
On the other side, as the CBI continues to investigate whether Sushant committed suicide or was murdered, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) is questioning Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan, Shraddha Kapoor and Rakul Preet Singh, whose names have emerged in Bollywood’s drug underworld and linked to Sushant’s death.
After the arrest of Rhea and her brother Showik Chakraborty and many others, more than 25 names of Bollywood’s A-lister actors have come up.
Sushant’s fans are in a frenzy over the delay in his inquest and they feel the waters have been muddied by the drug angle involving many popular celebrities.