Hearing a plea on the media coverage in the Sushant Singh Rajput case, the Bombay High Court has asked the media to exercise restraint while reporting on the investigation. The HC said that it expects media organisations to ensure that they do not hamper the investigation in the case of actor Sushant Singh Rajput‘s death.

A division bench of Justices AA Sayed and SP Tavade said the media should exercise restraint and report in such a manner that it does not hamper the investigation.

The court was hearing two petitions which claimed a “media trial” was going on in the case of Rajput’s death and sought for it to be stopped. One of the petitions was filed by eight former IPS officers against the “unfair, malicious and false media campaign” against Mumbai Police.

The petitioners include former director generals of police M N Singh, P S Pasricha, K Subramanyam, D Sivanandan, Sanjeev Dayal and Satish Mathur, former additional DGP K P Raghuvanshi and former Mumbai police commissioner D N Jadhav.

The other petition was filed by filmmaker Nilesh Navlakha and two others who claim to be social activists, seeking direction to media organisations not to sensationalise reportage in the case.

“We urge and expect the media to exercise restraint before publishing or reporting on details of the investigation, and report in such a manner that it does not hamper the investigation,” the court said.

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The bench said before hearing the matter further, it would like to first see what the Union government and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing the case, have to say in response to the pleas.

The high court posted the petitions for further hearing on September 10.

Sushant Rajput was found hanging in his apartment in suburban Bandra on June 14 following which the Mumbai Police e registered an Accidental Death Report and recorded statements of over 50 people, including some of his family members and Bollywood personalities.

The late actor’s father on July 25 lodged a complaint with Patna Police, accusing Rajput’s girlfriend and actress Rhea Chakraborty and her family members of abetting his suicide and misappropriating his money.