Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut has slammed the Centre for handing over the Sushant Singh Rajput death case to Central Bureau of Investigation. He said that the decision has been taken for political gains and as part of pressure tactics.

Terming it as a conspiracy against Maharashtra, the resident editor of party mouthpiece Saamana said that Bharatiya Janata Party has politicised the case by linking a state minister with it.

Raut, in his weekly column Rokhthok, has said that the decision of handing over the investigation is an attack on the states autonomy. He has also pointed at the misuse of the central agencies like CBI and said that the Centres intervention in the case is an insult to Mumbai Police. He said that though the CBI is a central agency, it has been proved time and again that it is not independent and impartial. Many state governments have banned the CBI. People in West Bengal took to streets against the agency when it tried to intervene in the Saradha Chit Fund case, the Shiv Sena leader stated.

Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah were of the same opinion about the CBI when they were active in Gujarat politics. They had opposed the transfer of Godhra riots and the subsequent killings (in Gujarat in 2002). What is wrong if the same feelings are expressed after the transfer of the Sushant Singh death case to the central agency, he questioned.

Raut also accused the BJP of defaming the state government under Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray with the help of a section of media. One channel has been using derogatory and threatening language for chief minister Uddhav Thackeray. This has anguished many including Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar. Expressing his discontent over the disrespect to Thackeray who holds constitutional post, Pawar asked me what action the government has taken. The section of media has support from the Opposition party, which wants to destabilise the government, he said.