Guwahati: Lashing out at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday said that his reaction after the Supreme Court verdict seemed like a poll victory speech.
Taunting on Nitish Kumar’s statement that ‘truth and justice’ has prevailed after the apex court’s verdict, the Saamana editorial raised the federalism argument, even though it was rejected by the top court.
According to a report in Republic TV, during the hearing of the case, Maharashtra government counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi had put forth similar arguments and opposed the CBI investigation and the FIR by Bihar Police.
However, the top court held the FIR by Bihar Police as valid in its judgment on August 19. Despite the verdict, Saamana (rather, Sanjay Raut) chose to say that ‘constitutional federalism must be weeping’ if the case was handed over to CBI only because Bihar Police DGP was put into quarantine when he arrived in Mumbai for parallel investigation in Sushant death case.
Stating that Maharashtra is a land of Babasaheb Ambedkar, Sena said that a go-ahead for CBI investigation is an ‘attack’ on the federal structure of India that was given by Ambedkar.
It has slammed DGP Gupteshwar Pandey and pointed out his leanings and connections with the BJP.
Saamana editorial also doubted the competency of the central agency, saying that several murder cases from Bihar were handed over to CBI, but they remain unresolved.
“Hinting at the Bengali heritage of the Bengaluru-born Rhea Chakraborty, Shiv Sena further said that the other ‘characters’ in this case belong to Bengal. “If people from Bengal say that case should be taken up by their state police and an FIR is launched, will Kolkata Police also get the right to investigate the matter?” Furthermore, it went on to defend the investigation by Mumbai Police, claiming that the probe was in its ‘last stage.”
The top court in its verdict on August 19 not only gave nod to a CBI probe in the case but also recognized the jurisdiction of Bihar Police saying that it is competent to give consent for a CBI investigation. Justice Hrishikesh Roy in his verdict directed the Maharashtra government to cooperate with the central agency.
