Sushant Singh Rajput death case: ED questions actor's sister Meetu Singh, friend Siddharth Pithani

MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday (August 11) questioned actor Sushant Singh Rajput's elder sister Meetu Singh in connection with a money laundering case linked to his death. This is for the first time that any of Sushant's kin has joined the ED probe. Meetu stays in Mumbai, and was the only family member who arrived at the Bandra flat on June 14, the day of the actor demise.

ED on July 31, took over the probe into the financial aspects that was raised by his family in a Bihar Police FIR.

The agency also interrogated Sushant's friend and roomate Siddharth Pithani and business manager Shruti Modi on Tuesday. While Pithani and Modi arrived at the office of the central probe agency in the Ballard Estate area around 11 am in response to their scheduled summons, Meetu Singh reached a little after 1 pm. She was escorted by women officials of the Mumbai Police to the ED office, thronged by scores of media personnel since questioning in the case began last week.

Both Pitani and Shruti Modi were questioned by the probe agency at its Mumbai office on August 10. The ED had also grilled Rhea Chakraborty, the prime accused in the case, for about 9 hours on Monday. Her father Indrajit Chakraborty and brother Showik have also been questioned for various lengths of time earlier.

Pithani had told various news channels that he was present in the Bandra flat on June 14 when the 34-year-old actor allegedly hanged himself. According to reports, he had been living with the actor for about a year. 

The ED has earlier questioned the chartered accountants (CAs) of Rhea and Sushant and the deceased actor's house manager Samuel Miranda.

The agency is understood to have asked Rhea - who had stated in her petition to the Supreme Court that she was in a live-in relationship with Rajput - about her friendship with him, business dealings and developments between them over the last few years.

The ED's line of questioning, officials said, revolves around Rhea's income, investments, business and professional deals, and links. Also under the ED's scanner are two properties linked to Rhea, one in the city's Khar area and the other in Maharashtra's Raigad district, for their source of purchase and ownership.

PTI sources said that ED said they 'want more answers' from Rhea over the alleged mismatch between her income, expenditure and investments.

They said Rhea has filed Income Tax Returns stating an income of about Rs 18 lakh in the recent past but the value of her investments is reportedly higher. Her father, they said, is a retired defence personnel who gets a pension of around Rs 1 lakh per month. The sources said Rhea told the agency that she had made the property investments from her income, savings and has also taken bank loans.

Rhea has been accused by Rajput's father of abetting his son's suicide. She had initially refused to appear before the agency citing her appeal pending before the Supreme Court that is slated to be heard on Tuesday.