The ongoing war of words between Mumbai Police and Bihar Police took a turn for the worse on Monday after Bihar Director General of Police (DGP) Gupteshwar Pandey questioned the Mumbai Police as to why they did not investigate the money trail while probing the suicide of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
"In the past four years, around Rs 50 crore was credited to the bank account of Sushant Singh Rajput but surprisingly all of it was withdrawn. In one year, Rs 17 crore was credited to his account, out of which Rs 15 crore was withdrawn. Isn't this a crucial point to be investigated? We are not going to sit quietly. We will question them (Mumbai Police) as to why such leads are hushed up," the DGP told the media.
Earlier on Sunday, the Bihar Police chief had reacted strongly when his subordinate Vinay Tiwari, an SP rank officer, was quarantined by the Mumbai municipal authorities.
"Instead of sharing evidence or handing over the postmortem and forensic reports of Sushant, they (Mumbai Police) have almost house arrested our SP. I have not seen such non-cooperation by any other state police. If the Mumbai Police are sincere in their approach, they should share the investigation with us," said Pandey, considered as one of the most outspoken serving top cops.
On Sushant's girlfriend Rhea Chakaraborty's role in the suicide case, the DGP said that she is an accused in the FIR registered by the deceased's father in Patna.
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"Let me remind everyone that Rhea is an accused. We are collecting evidence against her. Once sufficient evidence is collected by our police, we will arrest her. But of course, we will be transparent in our investigation. Our police officers are in Mumbai to dig out more facts and evidence," senior IPS officer Pandey said
Meanwhile, senior Shiv Sena leader and MP Sanjay Raut said that if Mumbai Police are compelled to take "gyan" from Bihar Police, then they better shut their office.
Reacting to Raut's statement, DGP Pandey said that he did not want to get involved in the ongoing politics over the suicide case, but "if they (Mumbai Police) are so competent in policing, then why haven't they found any breakthrough in the case so far".
Why are the police not investigating the financial angle? Why are they silent on this front," the police chief asked, adding, "I am not raising these questions based on any presumption. We have documentary evidence for all the financial aspects of this case."
With Bihar Police raising questions over the investigation into Sushant's case by the Mumbai Police, Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh spoke to the media in a bid to clear the air.
The commissioner revealed that the statements of 56 witnesses have been recorded till now. He also ruled out any alleged party being thrown at the actor's residence in Bandra the night before he committed suicide on June 14.