In a relief to actor Rhea Chakraborty and her family, the Supreme Court on Friday upheld the Bombay High Court’s decision to cancel CBI’s lookout circular issued against them following Sushant Singh Rajput’s death.
The Bench accused the CBI, state of Maharashtra and Bureau of Immigration for challenging the Bombay High Court’s decision just because the accused are from a high-profile background.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan called the petition was “frivolous”. Justice Gavai said, “We are warning you. You are filing such a frivolous petition, only because one of the accused is a high-profile person. It will be dismissed with exemplary cost. Both persons have deep roots in society.”
The CBI had in 2020 issued lookout circulars against Ms Chakraborty, her brother Showik Chakraborty, her father Lt. Colonel Indrajit Chakraborty and her mother Sandhya Chakraborty. This came after Sushant Singh Rajput’s family filed an FIR in Patna, seeking a probe into his death. Soon after, the case was transferred to the CBI.
The Bombay High Court had quashed the lookout circulars, citing the lack of reasons to issue the same. Further, the Bench had maintained that the actor and her family had roots in the society and had also cooperated with investigating agencies.
In the same year, Rhea Chakraborty and her family were questioned in an alleged money laundering case linked to the Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. The Enforcement Directorate’s probe, focussed on her income, investments and professional deals, was initiated after Mr Rajput’s family alleged that she illegally transferred Rs 15 crore in tranches from his account and drove him to suicide.
