The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday came to the rescue of both sisters of the deceased actor Sushant Singh Rajput and urged the Bombay High Court to quash the FIR registered by Mumbai Police against the duo for allegedly administering a banned psychotropic drug to their late brother.
The CBI, in an affidavit filed before a bench of Justices Sambhaji Shinde and Makarand Karnik, said the FIR registered by Mumbai Police at the behest of actress Rhea Chakraborty, was "presumptive and speculative".
The CBI further said, Mumbai Police erred in directly registering the FIR since the Supreme Court has already ordered that all cases, if any, related to Sushant's death would have to be probed by the central agency.
"The allegations made by Chakraborty in her complaint, which are the main basis of the FIR, are speculative and presumptive in nature. Further, the Mumbai Police could have had first conducted a preliminary probe and then proceeded with registering an FIR," the central agency said in its affidavit.
The CBI further pointed out that it was already investigating the allegations levelled by Sushant's father against Chakraborty and her family, for abetting the actor's suicide.
"It is a settled position in law that two FIRs cannot be registered on the same cause of action. It must be noted that we (CBI) are already probing the causes relating to the death of the actor and all other aspects surrounding it. Thus, in view of this, it was expected from the Mumbai police to directly forward the complaint received from Chakraborty to the CBI instead of registering FIR itself," the central agency stated.
The central agency, accordingly, said that the FIR filed by the city police was "unwarranted and bad in law" and deserved to be quashed.
The affidavit further questioned why Rhea chose to be silent till September (when she filed the complaint) especially when she herself was being probed in the case.
"Thus, this FIR is vitiated and bad in law," the CBI argued.
The agency lastly clarified that it was conducting probe in this matter "without being hindered by any external factors and in an impartial manner".
The bench would take up the petitions filed by Sushant's sisters on November 4.
