The Shiv Sena on Monday sought an apology from news channels and politicians, who defamed the Mumbai Police and questioned their investigation of actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. The party’s comment came two days after a panel from the All India of Medical Sciences said Rajput died by suicide and ruled out all theories of murder.

“The politicians, and news channels which bark like dogs...defamed the Mumbai Police and questioned its probe, they must apologise to Maharashtra now,” the party said in an editorial in its mouthpiece Saamna. “Are the blind devotees going to reject the report of AIIMS in connection with Sushant’s death? It has been 110 days since Sushant’s unfortunate death.”

The Shiv Sena alleged that there was a conspiracy to tarnish the image of the Maharashtra government, adding that a defamation case must be filed against those who were a part of it. The party said that truth had prevailed in the case.

The party added that the Mumbai Police had adhered to ethics and maintained secrecy in the case to ensure that reputations remain unaffected, but the Central Bureau of Investigation dug out the drug abuse angle in the case within 24 hours. Shiv Sena added that the people who had called for a CBI inquiry in the case did not seek a report on the agency’s findings over the last few months.

Also read: Sushant Rajput case: ‘Perturbed with AIIMS report, will request for new team,’ says famil lawyer’

Shiv Sena also accused Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and other politicians from the state of speaking about Rajput’s case as they did not have any other campaign issues ahead of the Assembly polls.

Earlier in the day, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut had also made similar claims of a conspiracy to malign the Maharashtra government and the Mumbai Police, ANI reported. “If now CBI inquiry is also not being trusted, then we are speechless,” he added.

On Saturday, a panel of doctors at AIIMS examined Rajput’s autopsy reports based on the 20% viscera sample available with them. The forensic agencies examined a laptop, two hard disks, a canon camera and two mobile phones as part of the investigation. The panel had concurred with the opinion of the Mumbai hospital, which had conducted the postmortem. The Mumbai hospital’s autopsy report had found “asphyxia due to hanging” as the cause of the actor’s death.

Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh had said later on Saturday that their investigation into the actor’s death was vindicated after the findings of the AIIMS panel was publicised.

Rajput was found dead in his apartment in Bandra on June 14, in what the Mumbai Police said was a case of suicide. The Central Bureau of Investigation had taken over the inquiry from the Bihar Police in an abetment to suicide case filed by the actor’s father KK Singh in Patna against actor Rhea Chakraborty and her family.

After a drug angle emerged in the case, the Narcotics Control Bureau arrested Rhea Chakraborty and her brother Showik Chakraborty for their alleged role in procuring drugs for Rajput. The agency described Rhea Chakraborty as an “active member of a drug syndicate”. Her arrest led to the questioning of several high profile actors, including Deepika Padukone, in a widening drugs probe.