CBI to Cooper Hospital docs: Why no time of death in SSR autopsy?

Mumbai, Aug. 24 (IANS): The CBI team, probing the Sushant Singh Rajput death case, on Monday again visited the Cooper Hospital, where his autopsy was done, to question the doctors concerned on various points even as it continued to quiz the actor’s flatmate Siddharth Pithani and his cook Neeraj Singh on the events before the actor was found dead.

The team also visited the Waterstone resort again, where the Bollywood star stayed for two months.

In its second visit to the Cooper Hospital in the last three days, the CBI’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) met the doctors who conducted the post-mortem examination of Sushant, and asked them about the conditions in which the autopsy was carried and who all from the late actor’s family were present in the hospital at that time, sources said.

The CBI team also questioned the doctors as to why there was no mention of the time of death in the autopsy reports.

The autopsy of Sushant was done on June 15, a day after he was found dead at his Bandra residence.

Earlier in the day, Pithani and Singh joined the questioning at the DRDO guest house in Santacruz area. A source said that they were asked about the events of June 13 night and June 14 morning, as the agency is seeking to understand the sequence of events in this period prior to Sushant’s death.

The CBI on Sunday had also questioned the actor’s personal aide Dipesh Sawant, apart from Pithani and Singh, about the behaviour of Sushant after his break-up with girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty and whether she took financial and professional decisions for Sushant, and if she was really keeping the late actor away from his family.

They were also questioned as to why they did not call the police immediately after they saw the actor dead in his room, and why they had brought down the body without waiting for the arrival of the police.

The source said that the CBI will summon more people for questioning in the case including Rhea, her father Indrajit, brother Showik and mother Sandhya.

The CBI could ask Rhea why she left Sushant’s flat on June 8 and what was the reason for her breakup with the 34-year-old actor. The source said that Rhea would also be questioned about the details of Sushant’s treatment and why she fired his staff.

The SIT once again reached the Waterstone resort, where Sushant stayed for two months, to speak to his healer and check on the payments and the visitors who had come to meet him. On Sunday, the CBI visited the resort and stayed there for over two hours, trying to determine how Sushant was behaving when he had stayed there.

On Sunday, the CBI’s questioning of Pithani, Singh and Sawant at the actor’s flat in Bandra’s Mont Blanc Apartment revolved around recreating the scene of his death again after it found stark inconsistencies in their statements. Following the detection of the inconsistencies in their statements, they were taken to the Bandra flat on Sunday afternoon to be questioned separately on the sequence of events on June 13 and 14.

Mumbai Police personnel, who had visited Sushant’s flat on June 14 when the actor was found dead, were also present with the CBI and the forensic team.

The CBI has questioned both Pithani and Neeraj thrice since Thursday after the team arrived in Mumbai from Delhi, as it seeks to ascertain what really happened between June 8 to June 14, when Rhea left for her house and who all visited his flat till the time Sushant was found dead.

It also wants to find who all Sushant spoke to in the absence of Rhea and how he was behaving when his sister stayed with him till June 12.

An agency source also said the CBI will ask for the call detail records of Sushant, Rhea and others.

The CBI took over the probe from the Bihar Police on August 6 on the orders of the Central government following a recommendation by the Bihar government in wake of an FIR lodged by Sushant’s father, K.K. Singh, at Patna’s Rajiv Nagar police station on July 25.

The case was registered against Rhea, her parents, brother, Sushant’s former manager Shruti Modi, house manager Samuel Miranda and unknown persons.

The Enforcement Directorate is also probing the money laundering angle in the matter. It has so far recorded the statement of Sushant’s sister Priyanka Singh and his father in Delhi, besides another sister Meetu Singh, Rhea, her brother and father, Miranda, Shruti Modi, Pithani, Rumi Jaffery and several others in Mumbai.