Earlier Maharashtra government sought permission from the Supreme Court (SC) to challenge Centre’s August 5 notification, opposing Patna FIR of Rajput’s father to CBI as it’s out of the jurisdiction.
Today morning Justice Hrishikesh Roy asserted CBI will be the sole agency to investigate Rajput’s death and repudiated to grant permission to Maharashtra.
Meanwhile Sushanth Singh Rajput’s family and friends welcomed SC’s order for CBI probe. Swetha Singh Kriti, sister of SSR shared on twitter, “Congratulations to my extended Family!! So happy… first step towards victory and unbiased investigation.” (Sic).
Also Mitu Singh, another sister of the actor thanked the supporters. Bihar DGP Gupteshwar Pandey shared his happiness and claimed, “Today’s verdict proves that Bihar police were correct and the way Mumbai police behaved was illegal”.
Few key points of the SC verdict include:
The apex court ordered the Mumbai Police to hand over all evidence collected so far in the case to CBI.
The court opined that FIR filed at Patna based on the FIR lodged by Sushanth’s father was accurate and added that the Bihar government had the right to refer Patna FIR to CBI.
The SC gave the right to CBI to probe not only the Patna FIR but also any other FIR related to Rajput death case and said that no other state police should interfere with it.
The court further ascertained that, as the Mumbai police had registered only an accidental death report for Sushanth’s death, the investigation authority will be constrained. It said the central agency should probe the case since Bihar police filed a detailed FIR by already referring to CBI.
