Pratyusha Banerjee death case took a fresh turn with Justice Mridula Bhatkar hearing a three-and-half minute audio clip of the last telephonic conversation between Rahul Raj Singh and Pratyusha Banerjee, while hearing the anticipatory bail plea of Rahul, accused of abetment to suicide.
The prosecution asked for his custody, stating that he was also being investigated for murder, but the court turned down the request after observing that Rahul was yet to be charged with murder.
Special Public Prosecutor Nilesh Pawaskar told the court, “The investigations are presently revolving around 306 of IPC (abetment) and 302 of IPC (murder). We suspect Rahul had much more to do than abetment but only his custodial interrogation can tell us more,” according to the report.
“If you have evidence, why don’t you register a murder case against Rahul? Why do you need his custodial interrogation to register a murder case? Don’t you register murder cases when the accused is absconding? If you register a murder case, I will look at the matter from another point of view and will not grant Rahul bail or any relief,”Justice Bhatkar said that.
The court ruled that after perusing all the facts in the case, the police could investigate it without any custodial interrogation of the accused.
Arguing in favour of granting the pre-arrest bail, Rahul’s lawyer Abaad Ponda said both Rahul and Pratyusha were happy with each other and had partied together the night before she committed suicide.
The call was recorded at 3.43 pm on April 1, supposedly an hour before the Balika Vadhu actress took the extreme step. The transcript of the conversation, submitted before the High Court, clearly showed that Pratyusha was provoked by her boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh into committing suicide, prosecutors argued.
This is a part of the conversation:
Time: 3.43 pm
Call duration: 201 seconds
Pratyusha Banerjee: Mujhe characterless kaha jaa raha hai. Mujhe marne ki dhamki di jaa rahi hai. Mere maa baap ko marne ki dhamki di jaa rahi hai. Bacha kya hai meri zindagi mein. (I have been called characterless. I’m getting death threats. My parents are getting death threats. What’s left in my life now?)
Rahul Raj Singh: Yeh sab choti baatein hain. (All these are not a big deal)
Pratyusha Banerjee: Aap isko choti si baat kaise bol sakte ho. Mr. Rahul please keep your ego aside. (How can you say it’s no big deal? Mr. Rahul, please keep your ego aside.)
Rahul disconnected the call while Pratyusha was still speaking.
Yesterday, Mid-Day had reported another part of the conversation:
Pratyusha: You cheater, tumne mujhe cheat kiya hai, mujhe mere maa baap se alag kar diya, ab dekho main kya karne ja rahi hoon (You cheater, you cheated on me, you separated me from my parents, now see what I do)
Rahul: What happened? I will talk to you once I reach home, I am on the way; till I reach, don’t do anything.