Mumbai, Aug 20: A CBI team reached Mumbai on Thursday evening for probe in the Sushant Singh Rajput death case, even as the municipal corporation announced it has been exempted from home quarantine. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had quarantined Bihar IPS officer Vinay Tiwari earlier this month after his arrival to oversee probe in the actor's death case.
A BMC official said the central investigation agency had applied for exemption from the home quarantine rule. "They are on official duty and sought an exemption from quarantine norms. They have been given exemption from the home quarantine rule," said the official.
The team is likely to stay in the city for around 10days, another official said. As per Maharashtra Government norms, government officials on important duty and doctors on COVID-19 duty are exempt from the home quarantine rule for a period of seven days, but have to apply to BMC for an exemption if they plan to stay in the city for over a week.
The CBI team, which includes forensic experts, landed at Mumbai airport around 7.30 pm, an official said, adding it will visit the actor's residence, where he was found dead. Mumbai police will hand over evidence collected in the case to CBI and will help in the investigation, he said.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the transfer of an FIR, lodged at Patna against actress Rhea Chakraborty and others for allegedly abetting Rajput's suicide, to the CBI. The apex court said that Bihar government is competent to transfer the case to the CBI for investigation.
The top court delivered its verdict on a plea by Chakraborty who had sought transfer of the FIR lodged against her at Patna to Mumbai. Rajput, 34, was found hanging from the ceiling of his apartment in suburban Bandra in Mumbai on June 14 and since then Mumbai Police has been probing the case keeping in mind various angles.
While pronouncing the verdict, the bench said that if any other case is registered regarding Rajput's death, the same shall be probed by the CBI only. It said that jurisdiction of Mumbai Police, which is conducting probe under section 174 of the CrPC which deals with the procedure to be followed in cases of unnatural death and suicide, is limited.
On his arrival in Mumbai, Tiwari was asked to remain in quarantine till August 15 in view of the COVID-19 pandemic and was stamped as quarantined by the BMC. The IGP (Patna) wrote to the Mumbai municipal commissioner, requesting him to exempt Tiwari from home quarantine protocols, after which the IPS officer was allowed to return to Patna, a week after his arrival here.
On August 3, BMC had issued a directive to its staff deputed at domestic airport that no passenger landing at the Mumbai airport should be granted exemption from home quarantine rule, unless the person has a written permission from the civic body. The BMC mandated that all arriving passengers without written exemption must be stamped, requiring them to undergo home quarantine for 14 days.
.
Comments
0 comment