HC praises Sushant, says his face revealed he was good person
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Thursday praised late actor Sushant Singh Rajput's work in the film "MS Dhoni: The Untold Story" and said that one could make out from the actor's face that he was a good human being.
The remarks were made by a bench of Justices S S Shinde and M S Karnik while reserving its verdict on a petition filed by Rajput's sisters - Priyanka Singh and Meetu Singh- seeking to quash an FIR for alleged forgery and fabrication of a medical prescription for their brother.
"Whatever the case...from Sushant Singh Rajput's face one could make out that he was innocent and sober...and a good human being," Justice Shinde said.
"Everybody liked him especially in that M S Dhoni film," the judge added.
The FIR was lodged against Priyanka Singh, Meetu Singh, and doctor Tarun Kumar of Delhi's Ram Manohar Lohia hospital by the suburban Bandra police on September 7 based on a complaint by Rajput's girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty.
As per the complaint, the sisters and the doctor prepared a forged and fabricated prescription for anti- depressants for their brother.
Rajput, 34, was found dead in his suburban residence on June 14, 2020.
His father K K Singh later lodged a case of abetment of suicide and cheating against Chakraborty and her family members.
The case is being probed by the CBI.
The Bandra police, after registration of the FIR against Rajput's sisters, forwarded the case papers to the CBI as per the directions from the Supreme Court, which had said that all cases pertaining to the death of Rajput shall be probed by the CBI.
On Thursday, senior counsel Vikas Singh, appearing on behalf of the sisters, argued that the Telemedicine Practice guidelines permitted a doctor to prescribe medicines after an online consultation.
He added that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rajput couldn't go for a physical consultation.
Singh added that even assuming that such a prescription was procured, there was no evidence to show that Rajput consumed any medicines.
Senior counsel Devdutt Kamat, appearing for the Mumbai police, however, claimed that no online consultation was done in this case.
He said that the WhatsApp chat between Rajput and his sister from June 8, 2020, clearly shows that Priyanka Singh procured the prescription without any consultation between the doctor and the patient.
"The police has evidence to show that an unidentified man went to the OPD of the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital on June 8, 2020, and took a token and later a prescription from the accused doctor Tarun Kumar," Kamat said.
He added that as per the legal provisions, the Mumbai police registered FIR after receiving a complaint and forwarded the same to the CBI.
Advocate Satish Maneshinde, appearing for Chakraborty, sought dismissal of the petition and said that one of the circumstances that may have led to Rajput's death was the "dangerous cocktail of drugs and narcotic substances and medicines".
"Rajput was under Rhea's care for 14 months before June 8, 2020, when he asked her to leave the house. During that period, Rhea ensured that Rajput took his medicines and never mixed them with drugs," Maneshinde said.
"Rajput's cook and servant on June 8, 2020, saw the actor roll four joints (drugs) and keep it in a box. On June 14, when the actor was found dead in his room, the box was empty. This has been informed by the servant to the authorities," he said.
Maneshinde added that the CBI should probe the case and if it comes to the conclusion that there is no case, then it can file a closure report.
"The complainant then has the option to file a protest petition. Quashing the FIR at this stage would be premature," he told the court.
The bench directed the lawyers to submit their written submissions and reserved its order.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
