Sushant death: Rhea, family members among six named in CBI case

Rhea Chakraborty has been named as an accused in the FIR filed by the CBI in the Sushant Singh Rajput death case. A day after the Centre asked the agency to probe the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday registered a case against six persons, including Rhea Chakraborty and her family members, on the basis of the FIR filed by Bihar Police on his family's complaint.

The CBI has named Rhea, her father Indrajit Chakraborty, mother Sandhya Chakraborty, brother Showik Chkaraborty, Sushant's house manager Samuel Miranda, Shruti Modi and unknown others. They have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including abetment of suicide, criminal conspiracy, wrongful restraint/confinement, theft, criminal breach of trust, cheating and other offences.

A CBI spokesperson said that the agency has registered the case on the request of Bihar government and further notification from the Central government and taken over the investigation of the Bihar Police case registered at police station Rajiv Nagar in Patna.

The official said that the Bihar Police FIR was registered against six accused and others.

The CBI has handed the case over to its Special Investigation Team (SIT) branch, which earlier investigated the high profile cases like Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal, and liquor baron Vijay Mallya bank fraud case.

SIT member Superintendent of Police Nupur Prasad, as Supervising officer under the DIG Gagandeep Gambhir, was also probing the alleged role of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in an illegal mining case. She is currently also handling the Srijan scam and journalist Upendra Rai case.

CBI Joint Director Manoj Sridhar will be leading the probe.

The development comes a day after the Department of Personnel and Training issued a notification, paving the way for the central investigative agency to register a case.

Sushant was found dead in his flat in Mumbai's Bandra on June 14. On Tuesday, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar recommended a CBI probe on the request of Sushant's father K.K. Singh. Many political leaders have also called for a CBI probe into Sushant's death.

On K.K. Singh's complaint, the Bihar Police registered a case against Rhea on July 25. Sushant's father had lodged an FIR against Rhea in Patna, accusing her of cheating and threatening his son. Sushant's family has also accused her of keeping him away from them.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also initiated a money laundering probe on the basis of the Patna Police's FIR and has summoned Rhea for questioning on Friday.

Earlier, a verbal duel erupted between the governments of Maharashtra and Bihar over the investigation by the Bihar Police in the case.