Hrishikesh Roy - Rhea ChakrabortyHrishikesh Roy - Rhea Chakraborty

All eyes are set on the Supreme Court of India today. Millions of fans of Sushant Singh Rajput and general public all over the globe who have interest in India and Bollywood are looking forward to hear from His Honour Justice Hrishikesh Roy, judge of the Supreme Court who will be hearing the matter through video conferencing from 11.00am. His Honour has a long list of matters and Rhea Chakraborty’s application is 11th on the list of matters before His Honour.

Sushant Singh Rajput or SSR was found dead in his apartment in Bandra on June 14.

Rhea, who is the rumoured girlfriend of Sushant Singh Rajput did not speak a single word for more than a month, finally broke her silence on 16 July through Twitter – addressing the Home Minister of India – Amit Shah – requesting for the matter of Sushant’s death to be probed by the CBI.

On 25 July, Sushant’s father filed an FIR in Patna’s Rajiv Nagar police station where he is ordinarily domiciled. He named Rhea Chakraborty and her family and two more people in the FIR alleging abetment to suicide and financial fraud.

A team of 4 members of Bihar police arrived in Mumbai in no time to start their own investigation.

Rhea went into hiding. India’s best lawyers lunged to defend her. Advocate Satish Maneshinde, a protege of famous Indian advocate Ram Jethmalani was reported by the Indian media to act for Rhea Chakraborty. Me Maneshinde is reportedly India’s most expensive lawyer – rumoured to charge Rs 10 Lakh per day. He announced Rhea had filed a petition under Section 406(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code 1973 to have the Bihar FIR and its investigation transferred to the Mumbai police, a position 180 degrees from her tweet of 16 July wherein she had asked for a probe by the CBI.

A lot has happened since then. An IPS officer of Bihar police was sent to Mumbai when the 4 member team was found unable to make much headway in the case. That office, despite a protocol request having been made by the Bihar police to accord courtesy and cooperation, was placed in 14 days quarantine.

The nation is now looking upto His Honour Justice Hrishikesh Roy who is hearing the matter today. While supporters of #Justiceforsushant hope the court would be minded to direct the CBI to take charge and investigate the matter, people advocating for Rhea feel the Mumbai police should be allowed to complete their inquiries and investigation and submit a closure report.

Readers should note there is no FIR registered in Mumbai. The death inquest is being held as accidental death report inquest which means – the police do not believe there is any cognizable offence committed. In case of ADRs, the police, on their own initiate the probe. Pending the investigation, if someone files a formal complaint then the police can immediately register an FIR. If the police chance upon a cognizable offence during their investigation, even in the absence of a formal complaint from family member, a police officer can become a complainant and file an FIR.

For supporters of SSR, sadly the Mumbai police have continued to put up a sham inquest and ‘tea party’ interviews of celebrities while it has been the India media – doing their hard work and point out holes in the police story of the death of SSR. They would want judge Hrishikesh Roy to see the conduct of Mumbai police they way they see it.

The matter took a serious turn on August 3 when Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar accepted the family’s demand and said the matter should be investigated by the CBI.

Unsurprisingly, Rhea’s team in Mumbai cried foul and claimed Bihar police or the government do not have jurisdiction to make such recommendations.

It needs to be pointed out along with hearing Rhea’s application, Judge Hrishikesh Roy will also hear SSR’s family lawyer as well as Mumbai police/government who have requested to be heard before the Court makes a decision.

In the meantime – the media trial on both sides continues.

Actor Ankita Lokhande, Sushant Singh Rajput’s ex-girlfriend, within hours of the Bihar government recommending a CBI probe into the Bollywood star’s death tweeted with a hashtag “listeningtomyhigherself  saying she would follow the journey of her heart and couldn’t be bought or sold.

“They wanted me to be a million things in this Earthly lifetime and to each I bowed and said ‘Not for me I am on the Priestess Path, Goddess born and I cannot be swayed. I follow the journey of my heart and the singing of my soul; I cannot be bought, and I cannot be sold.’ -Ara,” Ankita Lokhande tweeted. The quote is from a book on women empowerment written by Ara Campbell.

On the other hand, Maharashtra Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray broke his silence and said allegations of his involvement are just ‘dirty politics’.

Aaditya Thackeray’s photos with many female (and male) Bollywood stars have been doing the rounds.  He confirmed he shares a good bond with many Bollywood celebrities and pointed out, is not a crime.