Supreme Court junks CBI’s ‘frivolous’ plea challenging quashing of LOCs against actor Rhea Chakraborty

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea of CBI challenging a Bombay High Court order that quashed the lookout circulars (LOC) against actor Rhea Chakraborty and her family in actor Sushant Singh Rajput death case and warned that it would impose costs on the probe agency for filing such a “frivolous” plea.

A bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice KV Viswanathan said CBI moved a “frivolous petition” only because one of the accused was a high-profile person.

The Bombay High Court had on February 22 quashed the LOCs issued against Chakraborty and her brother Showik and their parents — Indrajit and Sandhya. It held the LOCs — issued against them in 2020 — could not be sent out on the mere registration of an FIR while allowing their pleas.

Rajput was found dead in his apartment in suburban Bandra on June 14, 2020 following which the Mumbai police registered an accidental death report and started the probe. Rajput’s father, however, in July 2020 lodged a complaint with the Bihar police, alleging the actor’s purported girlfriend Chakraborty and her family members had abetted his suicide. The case was later transferred to CBI, which has been investigating it.

In 2020, both Rhea and Showik were arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau in a drugs case related to Rajput but were later granted bail.