The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), investigating the death of late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, approached the United States (US) on Monday, requesting support in recovering deleted data from the actor’s email and social media accounts. The central agency has sought the information from the headquarter of social media giants Google and Facebook based in California, under the MLAT (mutual legal assistance treaty).
A mutual legal assistance treaty (MLAT) is an agreement between two or more countries for the purpose of gathering and exchanging information in an effort to enforce public or criminal laws. The treaty allows India and the United States to obtain information from each other in any domestic investigation that would otherwise be unattainable.
The CBI is reportedly looking for information to see whether anything happened in the past that could be linked to the actor’s death. Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead in his Mumbai apartment on June 14, 2020,
CBI refutes ‘speculative’ media reports, says it is still probing the case
In December 2020, the central agency had reiterated that it is still conducting the probe in the alleged suicide case of actor Sushant Singh Rajput and it has not ruled out any aspect as of 30 December 2020.
Prior to this, in the month of October, CBI had refuted media reports that no foul play was found in the Sushant Singh Rajput death case and that the agency was going to file a closure report in the case. It had clarified that it was still probing the case.
The statement had come after speculations were rife that the central agency has ended the probe in the case. Reports had also emerged saying that CBI had ruled out the foul play angle in the case.
The news was originally shared by the Bombay Times which claimed that the CBI had concluded its investigation and that no foul play was found by it in the death of Sushant Singh Rajput. In no time the news was picked up by several other media portals.
Several media houses including the Times of India, Zee News, Economic Times and News 18 had reported that the CBI had concluded the investigation in the case and no foul play was found by the agency during the investigation. The media portals also said that the CBI is soon likely to file a closure report in the case.
Soon after the news went viral, the central agency clarified, refuting the ‘speculative and erroneous’ news. It said that it was still probing “all possible angles” in the death of the late actor.
Sushant Singh Rajput Death
On June 14, 2020, actor Sushant Singh Rajput was found hanging in his Mumbai flat under mysterious circumstances. The cause of death was determined to be suicide by Mumbai police. Rajput’s family had sought that the matter be referred to the CBI after being dissatisfied with the Mumbai police investigation. The Supreme Court finally transferred the matter to the CBI in August. The CBI inquiry into the death of the later actor opened a can of worms, resulting in the intervention of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), which is looking into the case’s alleged drugs connections.