Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) questioned Monday actor Rhea Chakraborty and her family members for about nine hours. The questioning of Rhea Chakraborty was in connection with a money laundering case. The money laundering case is linked to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
Rhea, her brother Showik and father Indrajit Chakraborty reported at the ED office around 11 am. They had been summoned to the ED office. Rhea, escorted by women personnel of Mumbai Police, and Showik were seen exiting the ED office shortly after 9.00pm.
During the day, the agency also grilled Shruti Modi, the business manager of Rhea and Rajput. The ED also interrogated Rajput’s friend and roommate Siddharth Pithani.
Pithani, an IT professional, had told various news channels that he was present in the Bandra flat June 14. It was the day when the 34-year-old actor allegedly hanged himself.
Pithani used to be called ‘Buddha’ by Rajput. He was living with Rajput for about a year. He had earlier recorded his statement with the Mumbai Police as part of its accidental death report (ADR) probe in the case.
Rhea, her father and Modi have been questioned for varied lengths of time earlier. However, Rhea’s brother Showik has been grilled by the agency for about 30 hours till now. He had left the ED office around 6:30 am on Sunday after an overnight questioning session that began around noon on Saturday. Rhea (28), the prime accused in the case, was questioned for about eight hours Friday.
The agency is understood to have questioned Rhea about her friendship with the late actor, business dealings and the developments that took place over the last few years between them. The ED’s line of questioning, officials said, is revolving around Rhea’s income, investments, business and professional deals, and links.
Also under the ED’s scanner is a property located in the city’s Khar area and another in Raigad district of Maharashtra. Both the properties are linked to Rhea, for the source of purchase and ownership. Agency sources have 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. However, the value of her investments is reportedly higher. Her father, they said, is a retired defence personnel who gets a pension of about 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.
