'Rhea has challenged our FIR. But we're going to fight that'

Theres Nishant Kumar SHO Rajiv Nagar police station where late actor Sushant Singh Rajputs father KK Singh had filed an official complaint The other three are inspector Manoranjan Bharti and subinspectors Qaisar Alam and Durgesh Gehlot says Sanjay Singh inspector general Patna Police identifying his four men in Mumbai investigating Rajputs death As microphones and camera crews follow them around the city they show up every night getting off and on autorickshaws on primetime newsWhile Singh is cautiously noncommittal with details in public sources in his team suggest theyve visited Rajputs Bandra apartment met his cook bodyguard and other staff including the locksmith who broke open the room on the day Rajput allegedly died by suicide This was on June 14For about 40 days since Mumbai Police had been investigating the case chiefly lining up public figures from the film industry seeking to establish connection of Rajputs death with nepotismfavouritism in BollywoodTheyd filed an accidental death report ADRSanjay Singh inspector general Patna PoliceRajputs family in Patna introduced a completely new angle to the story on July 25 Singh recalls That was a Saturday On Monday July 27 the SSP sought my permission and an SIT Special Investigating Team was moved to MumbaiOn July 28 while the Patna Police team waited all day for audience with DCP Bandra is when the press got whiff and Singh confirmed to PTI that Rajputs father had filed a stronglyworded complaint against the actors girlfriend Rhea Chakrabortymdashalleging among other crimes financial fraud and abetment to suicide An FIR had been registered by the Patna PoliceGiven that the Mumbai Police was already investigating the case would it not have been prudent to pass on the complaint plus the FIR to it instead Singh says Sushant is no more The person who has been allegedly cheated the aggrieved party therefore is his father He is in Patna Whenever there is a cognisable offence reported to a police station it is our duty to file a first information report FIR Once you read it you know that pointwise we have to verify the facts Our future action depends on that Moreover Mumbai Police till date has not registered any FIR in this matterWhile social media and television news debates night after night had been engaged in questioningshattering power structures of Bollywood over the death of its star Rajputs family had been quietly carrying on a personal shadow inquiry of its own seemingly disappointed with the route the Mumbai Police had takenRajputs brotherinlaw OP Singh commissioner of police Faridabad it appears also helped the family establish contact with peers procuring necessary papers especially to do with financial records Youngest of siblings Rajput had four sisters one of whom Meetu Singh lives in Mumbai and has recorded her statement with the visiting Patna PoliceAccording to an insider the family notably sister Meetu was aware of Rajput having been diagnosed with and seeking medical help for depression The father alleges he had lost contact with his son owing to Chakrabortys presence in his life One of Rajputs close friends Mukesh Shetty according to a source has also made a similar statement to the officers from PatnaSomething is surely abnormal here Singh says What about the Bollywood connection Were far from that he admits Singhs own Bollywood association in an accidental sort of way is that he was superintendent of police in Gaya when his fellow IITian and whistleblower in the national highway project Satyendra Dubey was gunned down in 2004 Dubey was reprised in the Prakash Jha film Satyagraha and most recently in Anubhav Sinhas Article 15 with Ayushmann Khurana playing the cops partAs for Singhs men in Mumbai Chakraborty the accused has approached the Supreme Court to transfer the case back to Mumbai Police She has challenged our FIR Were going to fight that keeping fingers crossed The case comes up for hearing on August 5 The Bihar Police have engaged top lawyer Mukul Rohatgi to represent themMeanwhile Singh has instructed his team to collect all evidence we will continue our investigation Apparently after initial reluctance Mumbai Police promised them support on July 31 Weve asked for deathrelated documents Otherwise we dont need much help with questioning the witnessesSo far according to a source the officials have accessed Rajputs bank statements from Kotak Mahindra HDFC and ICICI branches and met his psychiatrist several other interviews are lined up One of the interviews saw Nishant Kumar and Co rendered faceless by a mask otherwise in an autorickshawmdashnothing like Keystone copsmdashfinding themselves in a swanky Jaguar as seen on TV Oh Im told they had walked three kilometres to meet a witness actor Ankita Lokhande who offered her car to the nearest autorickshaw says SinghCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news