Sushant Singh Investigation On, Says CBI, Cell Towers In Focus

After 145 days of taking over the case to probe the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, the Central Bureau of Investigation has said it is looking into all aspects of the case and nothing has been ruled out.

In October, a team of doctors from Delhi's AIIMS had said in its opinion to CBI that the actor was not murdered and it was a case of suicide, dismissing the theories of poisoning and strangling floated by the actor's family and their lawyer.

BJP MP Subramanian Swamy had written to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) asking about the status of the investigation, after which the PMO sent the letter to the CBI.

In its reply to Mr Swamy, the centre's probe agency said, "The CBI is conducting investigation in a thorough and professional manner using latest scientific techniques. During investigation, all aspects are being looked at and no aspect has been ruled out as on date."

"During investigation, advanced mobile forensic equipment including latest software have 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," the CBI said.

"During investigation, all the witnesses have been examined to understand the circumstances and apprehensions raised by the complainant and his family members and other independent sources. Intensive and thorough investigation has been carried out in this regard," the CBI said. "The investigation team along with senior officers visited all places of concern - Aligarh, Faridabad, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Manesar and Patna," it said.

"The investigating team and senior officers have visited the place of incident on numerous occasions for better understanding of the circumstances related to the incident. The experts of CFSL, New Delhi, considered the best in their field in India, also visited and examined the place of incident. The experts also carried out simulation exercise," the CBI said, referring to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory.

The 34-year-old actor was found dead on June 14 in his apartment in Mumbai. Though the Mumbai Police, based on the autopsy, called it a suicide, wild speculation and campaigns of justice on social media and allegations from Mr Rajput's family raised doubts and that became a part of the overall CBI investigation.

More than a month later after Mr Rajput's death, his father KK Singh filed a case in Bihar, accusing his son's 28-year-old girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty and her family of cheating him financially and mentally harassing him, driving him to suicide.

The investigation eventually took a turn towards alleged drugs use. Ms Chakraborty was arrested on September 8 by the Narcotics Control Bureau on charges of organising drugs for Mr Rajput. She was granted bail on October 7, nearly a month after she was arrested. Hounded by conspiracy theorists, a section of the media and an avalanche of online hate, Ms Chakraborty has denied all charges made by Sushant Singh's father as "total nonsense".