The Bihar Police on Thursday (August 13, 2020) filed a written submission in the Supreme Court on actress Rhea Chakraborty’s plea seeking to transfer an FIR lodged against her in Patna to Mumbai in connection with Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death.
In its written reply, the Bihar Police told the top court that Vinay Tiwari, the Superintendent of Police (SP) who had reached Mumbai on August 2 with advance intimation to Mumbai Police, was virtually “detained” in the name of “quarantine”.
Tiwari had reached Mumbai to investigate the FIR registered in Patna by Rajput`s father KK Singh against Rhea Chakraborty under sections including abetment to suicide. In its reply to the apex Court, the Bihar Police also alleged that the 4-member SIT of Bihar Police officers, which reached Mumbai on July 27, was not allowed to discharge its duty for the conduct of the investigation.
“The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Bihar had requested the Mumbai authorities for removal of Vinay Tiwari, IPS, from quarantine, however, the same had been unfortunately disregarded by them,” read the reply by Bihar Police.
In its reply, the Bihar Government claimed that Bihar Police has the jurisdiction to probe the Sushant Singh Rajput case, according to news agency ANI. The Bihar Police stated that it is mandatory for the police officer to register the FIR and proceed with the investigation.
“It is only after completion of the investigation, the police officer shall forward the report to the concerned Court of competent jurisdiction,” read the reply.
“The Station House Officer (SHO) is obliged to register the FIR and carry out the investigation expeditiously. At the stage of the investigation, it cannot be said that the SHO does not have territorial jurisdiction to investigate the case,” the Bihar Government stated in the affidavit, according to ANI.
“Any contention that the Investigating Officer (IO) did not have jurisdiction to do so on the face of it deserves to be rejected. Section 156(2) contains an embargo that no proceeding of a police officer shall be challenged on the ground that he has no territorial power to investigate,” the Bihar police claimed.
Earlier, the Maharashtra Police told the top court in its affidavit that the Bihar Police did not have jurisdiction to investigate into the FIR or examine witnesses related to Rajput`s case.
Actor Rhea Chakraborty also filed her written submissions before the apex court in the case.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case against Rhea Chakraborty, Indrajit Chakraborty, Sandhya Chakraborty, Showik Chakraborty, Samuel Miranda, Shruti Modi, and others in connection with the actor`s death.
Rajput was found dead at his Mumbai residence on June 14.