New Delhi: More than four years after the actor Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead in his apartment in Mumbai under mysterious circumstances, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has closed the case ruling out any foul play in his death, as suspected by the family, people familiar with the development said on Saturday.
The closure report effectively gives a clean chit to actress Rhea Chakraborty and her family members, who were accused by Rajput’s family of driving their son to suicide and embezzling his funds and confirms that the actor took his own life.
Rajput, 34, was found hanging from the ceiling of his apartment in suburban Bandra in Mumbai on June 14, 2020. His death was shrouded in conspiracy theories including his being a victim of an alleged culture of nepotism in Bollywood which shuts out outsiders forcing them to take extreme steps.
“After an extensive investigation that involved gathering forensic evidence from various locations, technical evidence from the US, multiple medical opinions and questioning of all the persons connected, we haven’t found any foul play in the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Hence, a closure report was filed in two related cases before a special court in Mumbai,” said a senior officer, who asked not to be named.
The federal agency was investigating two cases since 2020 – one filed by Rajput’s father K K Singh with the Bihar police the same month alleging that actress Rhea Chakraborty and her family drove his son to suicide and embezzled his funds worth ₹15 crore; and a second case filed by Chakraborty in September 2020 against the late actor’s sister Priyanka Singh and a doctor from Ram Manohar Lohia hospital in Delhi for allegedly getting Sushant psychiatric drugs without consultation and by using a forged prescription.
“There is no evidence of any conspiracy in either of the cases,” said the officer cited above.
The Mumbai police had previously investigated the death, but it didn’t find any foul play. However, after Rajput’s father’s case with the Bihar police, the Centre handed over the probe to the CBI, which re-registered the case and named the actress and her family members as accused persons.
After taking over the probe, CBI formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the death and subsequent allegations-counter allegations. It said at that time that it was looking into all aspects of the actor’s death. Among the angles it explored were abetment of suicide charges against his girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty; and whether the actor took the step under any professional pressure.
The premier investigation agency had also appointed a medical board of top doctors from the AIIMS Delhi, which after studying the post-mortem examination and viscera reports of Rajput, had concluded in September 2020 that the actor’s death was a case of suicide. The board had said the cause of the actor’s death was asphyxia due to hanging. There were no injury or struggle marks on his body and his clothing was not disturbed.
It also sent a formal request in 2021 to California-headquartered Google and Facebook, asking them to share details of all deleted chats, emails or posts of the actor so that it could analyse the content and understand the background to the events of June 14, 2020, the day Rajput was found dead at his apartment in Mumbai. However, nothing suspicious was found in the replies received by it.
CBI had also examined dozens of people including the actor’s friends, staff, his doctors, actress Chakraborty and her family members, and several members of the film fraternity.
In a statement in December 2020, CBI said it was probing the case using the latest scientific techniques.
“During the investigation, advanced mobile forensic equipment including the latest software has been used for extraction and analysis of relevant data available in the digital devices and also for analysis of dump data of the relevant cell tower locations related to the case,” it said then.
The agency had also visited several cities including Aligarh, Faridabad, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Manesar and Patna to collect evidence and record statements.
Rajput’s family lawyer senior advocate Vikas Singh didn’t comment on the matter on Saturday.
Discussing suicides can be triggering for some. However, suicides are preventable. A few major suicide prevention helpline numbers in India are 011-23389090 from Sumaitri (Delhi-based) and 044-24640050 from Sneha Foundation (Chennai-based).