Mumbai: Priyanka and Meetu Singh – sisters of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput — who’ve been named in an FIR by Rhea Chakraborty, have requested the Bombay High Court for an early hearing of their petition.
The HC bench, comprising Justices SS Shinde and MS Karnikhas, posted the petition filed by Priyanka and Meetu Singh for further hearing November 4. The sisters had filed a petition to quash Rhea’s FIR against them.
Rhea had accused Priyanka and a doctor associated with a Delhi hospital for illegally prescribing medicines containing psychotropic substances, without a consultation. Sushant died a week after his sister encouraged him to consume the medicines. Rhea cited text exchanges between the actor and his sister as evidence that he didn’t consult a doctor before being told to take the medication.
In the petition filed through advocate Madhav Thorat, Sushant’s sisters have claimed that the medicines are not banned and the guidelines issued by the Medical Council of India (MCI) April 11, for telemedicine “allows the medicine to be prescribed to a patient even at the first consultation”.
“A bare perusal of the complaint along with the FIR shows that the statements made there do not make out any cognisable offence,” the petition stated. “The lodging of the complaint by Chakraborty was nothing but a feeble attempt on her part to scuttle the investigations against her and blame Rajput’s family members for his suicide, as she was on the verge of being arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB),” it further stated.
Rhea’s lawyer, Satish Maneshinde, has filed a reply to the petition. “Sushant was very much in Mumbai, Maharashtra and not in New Delhi. That is also surprising that Dr Tarun Kumar being a Cardiologist thought it is fit to prescribe medications to a person he did not know and had never met with Psychotropic substances. There is nothing to indicate that there was ever any teleconference held between Sushant and the accused doctor,” notes Rhea’s affidavit, according to India Today.
Sushant was found dead at his Bandra apartment June 14. The Mumbai Police after its initial investigation ruled his death a suicide. The case is now being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation.