Desk Report
Published: 08 Nov 2021, 08:04 pm
Sushant Singh Rajput || Photo: Collected
India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has approached the United States through
a formal channel, seeking assistance in retrieving deleted data from the email
and social media accounts of actor Sushant Singh Rajput to understand if
anything happened in the past which could be linked to June 14, 2020, the day
he was found dead at his apartment in Mumbai, people familiar with the
development said, reports Hindustan Time.
The
information has been sought under MLAT (mutual legal assistance treaty) from
California-headquartered Google and Facebook, asking them to share details of
all deleted chats, emails or posts of the actor so that investigators can
analyse the content.
India
and the US have an MLAT under which both sides can gain access to information
in any domestic investigation, which otherwise may not be possible. While the
ministry of home affairs (MHA) is the central authority in India for receiving
or sharing such information under MLAT, the attorney general’s office processes
such information in the US.
An
officer, who didn’t want to be named, said: “We don’t want to leave any loose
ends before we finalize the case. We want to know if there are any particular
deleted chats or posts which could be useful in the case.”
The
development means that finalizing the probe in Sushant Singh’s death may take
some more time as sharing information through MLATs is a time-consuming
process.
The
premier agency explained last year through a statement that it is probing the
case from all angles. Among the angles it is exploring are the abetment of suicide
charges against Rhea Chakraborty, as alleged by Rajput’s family; and whether
the actor took the step under any professional pressure, nepotism in Bollywood,
etc.
“Sending
the request to the US is part of that exercise only as we don’t want to miss
out on any aspect,” said a second officer, asking not to be named.
Senior
advocate Vikas Singh, who represents Sushant Singh’s family, appreciated CBI
sending a request to Google and Facebook. He said: “I am not surprised because
they (CBI) want to do a thorough investigation before they finalize the case.
There is a lot of mystery behind Sushant Singh’s death like there are no
eyewitnesses, or camera footage to show what happened and I think that CBI is
trying to find a proper lead.”
As
reported by HT on June 14 this year, the CBI, with the help of experts, is also
carrying out a detailed psychiatric evaluation to assess Singh’s state of mind
prior to his death. It has also examined the reports shared by the Central Forensic
Science Laboratory (CFSL).
The
34-year-old actor was found dead in his apartment in Mumbai’s Bandra on June 14
last year. Rajput’s father, KK Singh, lodged a complaint with the Patna police
against Rhea Chakraborty, her parents and her brother, Showik, on June 25. The
CBI took over the probe in August 2020 on orders of the Supreme Court. Two
other agencies — the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Narcotics Control Bureau
(NCB) — are also investigating different aspects in the case.
A
medical board of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) had
concluded in September 2020, after studying the post-mortem exam and viscera
reports, that the actor’s death was a case of suicide.
The
Mumbai Police, which initially probed the death, had also ruled out any foul
play.