Sushant Singh Rajput case: No foul play, samples taken for COVID test

Sushant Singh Rajputs sister, Mitu Singh (left), at Cooper hospital

Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput was found hanging at his Bandra residence on Sunday afternoon. Sources said the actor had been diagnosed with depression five months ago and had consulted a psychiatrist at Hinduja Hospital but wasn-t on medication.

Bandra police are awaiting the postmortem report. The actor-s swabs were collected for a COVID-19 test before the body was sent for a postmortem. According to sources, his manager and sister told police that he was battling depression.

Police outside Sushant Singh Rajput-s Bandra residence on Sunday. Pics/Shadab Khan

Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh was the first to receive a call about the death. Bandra police were informed at 2 pm. The actor was found in his room on the upper floor of his duplex flat. Police recorded the statements of Neeraj Singh, a cook living in the apartment since May 11, 2019, Keshav Bachner, a cook living in the apartment for around a year-and-a-half, housekeeper Deepesh Sawant and art director Siddharth Ramnathmurti Pithani, who lives one floor below. The last person Rajput called at 12 am the previous night was actor Mahesh Krishna Shetty, who did not answer the call.

According to the preliminary statements of the residents of the house, Rajput woke up at 6.30 am on Sunday like usual, had pomegranate juice at 9:30 am and went to the bedroom. The cook knocked on the door at 10.30 am to ask about food but he did not respond. The cooks knocked again on the door at 12 pm but got no response. They informed Rajput-s sister, Mitu Singh, who rushed from her Goregaon residence. A key-maker was called in at 1.30 pm and on opening the door, Rajput was found hanging from the ceiling fan with a green kurta.

The house staff cut the kurta, got Rajput down and one of them called 108 for an ambulance. Meanwhile, Param Bir Singh was also informed.

"An ADR has been registered and further enquiries are underway. Prima facie, it looks like death due to hanging but the postmortem report is awaited to draw a definite conclusion," said Abhishek Trimukhe, DCP Zone IX.

"We have been told by his sister that there were no financial issues," an officer said. "We don-t know how much information his sister has about the finances. We are looking into all possible aspects; there is no foul play involved as per our primary probe."

A week ago, Rajput-s former manager, Disha Salian, committed suicide, jumping off her 14th-floor residence in Malad.

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