Mumbai, Aug 5 (IANS): Exactly a year after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the probe into the death of Bollywood actor the late Sushant Singh Rajput, the Maharashtra Congress on Thursday asked the federal agency to clarify the current status of its longwinded investigation.
State Congress Spokesperson Sachin Sawant said that one year has lapsed after the CBI took up the probe into Sushant's death case, "but it has not yet reached any conclusion".
"It is also nearly 14 months since Sushant's death on June 14, 2020, and more than 300 days after the AIIMS panel ruled out the 'murder angle' in the case. Yet, the CBI is deliberately silent on this matter," Sawant said.
In direct posers, he asked the CBI to declare what progress has been made in the Sushant death probe of which the agency had made a big prestige issue and what is the current status of the enquiry.
"Is there any order of the Narendra Modi government to deliberately keep such investigations in Maharashtra cases pending and inconclusive? Who is putting pressure on the CBI?" Sawant asked sharply.
He said that the CBI had taken over the case lodged by the Bihar Police, which had flouted the Criminal Procedure Code Section 177 while lodging the FIR.
Sawant pointed out that the Supreme Court had also expressed its satisfaction at the overall investigations by the Mumbai Police which was then probing the matter from all sides.
"However, it was the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s political ploy to tarnish the image of the Mumbai police and destabilize the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. They used the then Bihar Director-General of Police Gupteshwar Pandey," Sawant said.
He accused the BJP of stooping to "a very low level" by openly hurling allegations of murder and rape, and exploited the actor's unfortunate death for political gains in the Bihar elections last year.
The Congress leader recalled how certain BJP-run television channels were asked "to continuously report the murder angle" in the Sushant death case as part of its well-planned strategy to politically attack and topple the MVA government.
"The BJP leaders kept defaming Maharashtra and MVA government. The CBI and other agencies leaked false information. The BJP IT Cell created thousands of fake accounts on various social media to spread fake propaganda. The BJP must apologise to the people of Maharashtra for spoiling the state's image through this case," Sawant demanded.
He reiterated that the Centre is using various national investigation agencies like CBI, NIA, ED, NCB, etc, for furthering their own political agenda, undermining elected state governments, hounding the Opposition-ruled states and their leaders, thus making a mockery of democracy.