Days after senior IPS officer from Patna, Vinay Tiwari was quarantined on his arrival in the city, the BMC is now looking at doing the same with four other cops, who came to the city on July 27 to investigate the abetment of suicide case against actress Rhea Chakraborty. While a senior civic official said that the cops were untraceable, when mid-day spoke to them over phone, the Patna officers said that they won't disclose their location as quarantining them would be unconstitutional in view of their role in the investigation of a criminal case
The four officers include inspectors Manoranjan Bharti and Qaisar Alam, and sub-inspectors Durgesh Gehlot and Nishant Singh.
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Sushant Singh Rajput and Rhea Chakraborty
'Protocol is the same'
Speaking to mid-day, Additional Municipal Commissioner P Velrasu said, "We have been trying to trace the four cops who reached Mumbai but they are untraceable. It will be good if they come out on their own for home quarantine because the protocol remains the same for everybody."
"We have asked our ward-level workers to trace them but we are not aware if they are still in the city. A couple of days ago we received a letter from a senior police officer in Patna to exempt IPS officer Vinay Tiwari from home quarantine but the letter did not mention the whereabouts of the other four cops," added Velrasu.
Vinay Tiwari, superintendent of police, Patna city
Meanwhile, the visiting cops told mid-day that they had come to the city to arrest actress Rhea Chakraborty, who has been booked under an abetment of suicide case, but the city police was shielding her.
'City cops protecting her'
"We were sent to Mumbai to arrest her but the cops are protecting her. Our senior IPS officer Tiwari was forcefully quarantined the same day he landed in Mumbai," said Qaisar Alam, one of the four cops appointed by the Patna police to investigate the matter.
Director General of Bihar Police, Gupteshwar Pandey said, "There is no transparency in the investigation by the Mumbai police in the Sushant Singh Rajput case. We had written a letter to the BMC commissioner requesting him to move Tiwari out of home quarantine because according to the rule, 'local district/municipal administration will be authorised to give exemption from home isolation for contributing to an office or for other important work after checking the passengers'. But the BMC has turned down our request."
Alam and his team members told mid-day that they had managed to record the statements of over a dozen people, including the close associates of Rajput in connection with the case.
'It's illegal'
Patna city SP Tiwari said, "I am on essential duty but the BMC has put me under house arrest in an illegal manner.
Thousands of people are travelling to Mumbai but the civic officials have selectively targeted me for their vested interests. This forceful home quarantine has definitely hampered our investigation. I am exploring all options and if needed, we will definitely go to the Supreme Court against the BMC, as their order is unconstitutional."
Also Read: Sushant Singh Rajput death case handed over to CBI, Centre tells Supreme Court
July 25
Day the abetment of suicide case was registered against Rhea
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