CLARITY, BUT NO CLOSURE

On September 29, the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI’s) enquiry into the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput crossed a major milestone. A seven-member panel of doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) submitted a forensic report to the CBI, concurring with the assessment of doctors from Mumbai’s RN Cooper Municipal General Hospital—that Rajput’s death was a case of suicide, and not murder.

- Kiran D. Tare and Suhani Singh

From June 14, when Rajput’s body was discovered at his home in Bandra, news reports and social media have been saturated with conspiracy theories, suggesting everything from poisoning to strangulation to bullying by Bollywood bigwigs as the cause of Rajput’s ‘murder’. Though the initial investigation by the Mumbai Police found no signs of foul play, the sordid speculation—by media houses desperate for TRPs, politicians looking to turn the national conversation away from the Covid crisis and the battered economy and a reflexively disaffected filmstar looking to settle scores in Bollywood— led to quite an array of investigative agencies plunging into the fray. On July 31, the ED (Enforcement Directorate) began an investigation based on an FIR (First Information Report) filed by Rajput’s father, K.K. Singh, in Patna on July 25. On August 19, the Supreme Court transferred the case to the CBI. And on August 26, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) jumped in to probe a suspected drug-pushing connection.