Bihar Govt Recommends CBI Probe in Sushant Death Case After Family's Request to CM Nitish Kumar

Bihar government has recommended a CBI inquiry into the death of Sushant Singh Rajput after the late actor's family lawyer, Vikas Singh, requested CM Nitish Kumar to transfer the case from Mumbai Police to the central probe agency.

Kumar Saturday said that he was open to recommending the CBI probe into Sushant's death if the late actor's father requests the state government for it.

Sushant's family on Tuesday made a formal request to the Bihar government through their lawyer Vikas Singh that a CBI probe should be ordered in the case.

"The DGP spoke to Sushant Singh Rajput's father this morning and he gave consent for CBI inquiry. So now, we are recommending CBI probe in the matter," Bihar CM Nitish Kumar told ANI.

Sushant's father Krishna Kumar Singh (74), who resides in Patna, had last month lodged a complaint with the Bihar Police against actress Rhea Chakraborty, her family members and six others for abetment to suicide of his son and fraud. Singh has accused Chakraborty, the purported girlfriend of Rajput, of having befriended his son in May 2019 with the intention of furthering her own career.

He also wanted a police investigation to ascertain where the Rs 15 crore deposited in a bank account held by Sushant was transferred. However, the investigation has flared into a tug of war between the Bihar and Mumbai Police. Amid escalating acrimony between Mumbai and Bihar police over jurisdictional issues, an IPS officer who had landed in Mumbai on Sunday for leading the SIT probe in the case, was quarantined under the COVID-19 regulations in force in the city, a development Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar called "inappropriate and forcible".

Bihar police chief Gupteshwar Pandey said in Patna that the state police would lodge a formal protest with the Mumbai municipal authorities over the "forcible quarantine" of Vinay Tiwari who was on official duty.

The issue resonated in the two Houses of Bihar legislature, with lawmakers across the political divide demanding a CBI investigation into the death of the 34-year-old Patna-born actor.

Both Mumbai and Patna police are probing the case parallelly.