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Bihar appoints former Attorney General to contest Rhea Chakraborty’s plea in Supreme Court

Nitish Kumar’s government is reportedly set to oppose Rhea Chakraborty’s plea in the Supreme Court and support the family of Sushant Singh Rajput who passed away by suicide in June.

Hindustan Times reveals that the Bihar government has hired India’s former attorney general Mukul Rohatgi to oppose Hindi film actress Rhea Chakraborty’s interim prayer that the probe by Bihar police be stayed until the Supreme Court makes a decision on her plea for transfer of investigation from Bihar to Maharashtra. Principal additional advocate general of Bihar, Lalit Kishore confirmed that Nitish Kumar’s government is set to oppose Rhea Chakraborty’s plea before the top court and support Singh Rajput’s family in the case. “The caveat has already been filed,” he shared.

After Chakraborty moved the Supreme Court, Singh Rajput’s family filed a caveat seeking that her petition not be allowed to be heard “ex-parte” in their counter-petition. The family’s lawyer Vikas Singh will be present in the court for the proceedings. A caveat is a petition filed to prevent any ex-parte order on the plea filed by opposite side. Chakraborty, who has been accused of abetting Singh Rajput’s suicide, moved the apex court on Wednesday pleading for the transfer of the investigation from Bihar to Maharashtra, as the investigation in Maharashtra was still pending.

Following pressure by Singh Rajput’s family members, the Bihar government is also likely to recommend a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the ‘’mysterious’’ suicide of the actor. Officials at Bihar police headquarters shared that the police was already investigating the case, but the government might recommend a CBI inquiry into the matter in following the request of Singh Rajput’s grieving family members.

Officials revealed that a team from Patna police had made progress in the case and had interrogated six people including cook of the actor. They also added that Bihar government had the right to recommend a CBI probe and the government was waiting for the return of police team from Mumbai after gathering evidences. The Patna police team also visited Kotak Bank’s Bandra West branch in Mumbai where the late actor had an account. The visit apparently caused some friction as Maharashtra’s minister of state, Shambhuraj Desai claimed that the policemen from Bihar did not follow protocol. “Whenever a police team from a state visits another state for investigation, there are some protocols which are to be followed. These were not followed,” Desai told a news channel.

However Central Range IG (Bihar) Sanjay Singh shared that the Patna police team departed from Bihar following his order and informed Mumbai police of their arrival. Y V Giri, a senior advocate in the Patna high court said that if Singh Rajput’s family moved the Supreme Court for a CBI inquiry, the court would hear the plea and recommend the inquiry. He said if state government wanted to transfer the matter to the CBI, it could also do so legally. Senior advocate Yogesh Chandra Verma told reporters said that Bihar government was well within the right to recommend a CBI inquiry.

For now, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has asked Bihar police to provide a copy of the FIR registered by it. The ED may probe into an alleged money laundering perspective as in his complaint, Singh Rajput’s father had mentioned that around 15 crore rupees had been transferred to various unknown accounts from his son’s bank account. The central probe agency has stepped in to probe the alleged financial anomalies in the late Hindi film actor’s two companies Vividrage Rheality and Front India for World Foundation. Chakraborty and her brother Showik are reportedly the directors in the first company. Showik is also a director in the second one.