Sushant Singh case: Ex-top cops come to the rescue of Mumbai police

Eight retired IPS officers have stood behind the Mumbai Police, which has come under intense media scrutiny in the ongoing high-profile probe into late actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death.

The eight former cops, who held top positions in the Maharashtra police, have filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Bombay High Court, seeking directions to halt the “unfair, malicious and false media campaign” against the Mumbai police in the matter, the Mid-Day reported.

The petitioners are M.N. Singh, P.S. Pasricha, D.N. Jadhav, D. Shivanandan, Sanjeev Dayal, K. Subramaniam, S.C. Mathur and K.P. Raghuvanshi – all Directors-General level officers at the time of their retirement.

The PIL stated, “A section of TV Channels has been trying to influence the course of investigation being done by Central Agencies through their biased reporting and false propaganda. This has created an air of suspicion in the minds of the general public as to the facts of the case under investigation and also about the Mumbai Police, health services and other support services of the state.”

Pointing at a section of TV news channels, the PIL stated that attempts are being made to influence the course of investigations (in Sushant Singh case) “through their biased reporting and false propaganda”.

Senior advocate Milind Sathe, who filed the PIL on behalf of the former police officers on Thursday (September 3), has named the Union and state governments, Press Council of India and News Broadcasters Association as respondents. The case is expected to come up for hearing shortly.

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The former cops said they fully support freedom of press, but expressed grave concern over the trend in media reporting, especially TV channels and felt it needed to be checked.

The petitioners took the media to task and sought guidelines for media houses to refrain from publishing and circulating any false, derogatory and scandalous comments etc that could tarnish the police’s reputation and may cause the people to lose faith in the system and the police administration.

The PIL also seeks instructions on “ethical reporting” and responsible journalism.

The eight former top cops pointed out that Mumbai Police is one of the oldest and finest forces in India which has “a very high reputation for professional competence and public service” and irresponsible attempts to run it down are not in the public interest.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh lauded the retired IPS officers’ initiative.