In the aftermath of a major setback as the Supreme Court ordered a CBI probe in the Sushant Singh Rajput case, the ruling alliance partner in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena, on Wednesday said that raising doubts on the capability of Mumbai Police is “a conspiracy against the city police”.
In his first reaction to the Supreme Court ruling, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said, “The Mumbai Police are fully capable of doing a good investigation… They investigated the matter with complete integrity.”
He, however, said that those in the government who know the law, the Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh or the Advocate General can talk about it but it would not be fit for him to comment on the verdict of Supreme Court.
Raut reiterated that Maharashtra is known for always striving for truth and justice and always ensuring that everybody — big or small — is not above the law and all can expect to get justice.
“The Supreme Court has given its verdict. It is not right to make political comments. Our state’s justice system has always been one of the best in the country. No one is above law here and to provide justice to all has been the norm,” Raut added.
The apex court judgement, while observing that the Mumbai Police did not err in the probe in any manner, also said it was wrong to create hurdles in the way of the Bihar Police team investigating the case in Mumbai.
When questioned about Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray, Sanjay Raut said not to bring his name, but remained silent whether the state government would challenge the apex court ruling.
Raut had consistently opposed the move to hand over the probe to the CBI in the Sushant Singh Rajput case.
The actor was found dead at his Bandra home on June 14, sparking a nationwide political furore.
The Bihar government has repeatedly accused Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government of creating hurdles in the way of probe.
The Bihar government, in its written submission before the Supreme Court last week, had said that on account of political pressure in Maharashtra, neither an FIR was lodged nor any cooperation was provided to Bihar Police in the case related to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
The state government had also informed the court that the Mumbai Police has been obstructing the investigation into the Sushant Singh Rajput case by Patna police and have not supplied crucial documents connected with the case.
It mentioned the “forcible” quarantine of IPS officer Vinay Tiwary in Mumbai.
The state government also said the Mumbai Police has been making “lame excuses” that it has jurisdiction to investigate the offence despite the fact that no cognizable case has been registered in Mumbai in connection with death of Sushant.
However, the Maharashtra government had maintained that the FIR by Patna police is “politically motivated and that it does not have any jurisdiction.”
With today’s verdict, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is set to write to the Mumbai Police to get hold of all the evidence and statements it recorded in the last two months.
As per reports, the agency will write to the Mumbai Police to share all the evidence it collected in the probe and demand the statements of all the persons whose statements were recorded in the last two months and the electronic devices of the late actor which are with the Mumbai Police.