Maharashtra to SC: All this because Bihar polls coming up

The Maharashtra government during a hearing in the Sushant Singh Rajput death case on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that all the hullabaloo was happening only because it is all about politics, and since Bihar has to go to polls by year-end so all this is happening.

Senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, representing the Maharashtra government, contended before Justice Hrishikesh Roy that the Bihar government got involved only to politically exploit the case ahead of the state elections.

Singhvi argued that for a CBI probe, consent by a state is mandatory and the only exceptions are the order of the CBI probe by High Courts and Supreme Court. "And this power must be exercised by a constitutional court sparingly, only in rare cases," submitted Singhvi.

He insisted "the kind of sensationalism attached to this transfer petition is amazing, as every reporter, anchor, lawyer has turned judge and jury. I don't know whether his death was murder or suicide, but I can say the murder of CrPC is being attempted here".

Singhvi insisted that law and order is exclusively within state competence, and either victims or accused don't decide who or where the case will be investigated.

Singhvi contended before the top court that the process of ascertaining death doesn't end with post-mortem, and in fact, it will remain a matter of investigation whether unnatural circumstances were the cause, which led to suicide.

The apex court was hearing arguments on the transfer petition filed by Rhea Chakraborty seeking transfer of case from Patna to Mumbai. The hearing was still underway.

( With inputs from IANS )