Rajat Sharma, India TV Chairman and Editor-in-Chief
The mystery behind actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death is turning murkier and deeper by the day, with reports that his sister Mitu Singh has told Bihar police that Sushant’s friend Rhea Chakraborty was into black magic and that she used to bring ‘tantrik’ to the apartment. She told police that whenever the tantric used to come to perform occult practices, all other persons present in the flat were asked to go out. She told police that despite being Sushant’s sister, she was asked to wait outside the flat for hours before being allowed inside to meet her brother.
Mitu Singh alleged before Bihar police that Rhea and her mother Sandhya Chakraborty used to bring a Bengali tantric to the apartment regularly to carry out occult practices on the actor. Sushant’s domestic servant and cook have also corroborated Mitu’s allegations.
Mitu Singh has alleged that it was Rhea who used to bring the tantric, and the latter had given a talisman to Sushant. She told Bihar police that Rhea’s mother Sandhya used to stay inside the flat for most part of the day to keep a watch on visitors. Sushant did not like the presence of Rhea’s mother, Mitu told police. She alleged that Rhea did not like Sushant’s family members and there used to be frequent spats between the two on this issue.
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate has sought details about Sushant’s case. Investigators from Bihar police on Thursday went to three private banks, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, and ICICI bank, in Mumbai to collect details of all transactions made on the actor’s accounts. Sushant’s father, it may be recalled, had alleged that a sum of Rs 15 crore was siphoned off from Sushant’s bank accounts within one year.
The Bihar police team has also collected details about companies floated by Sushant and Rhea, in which the latter’s brother Shouvik Chakravorty and her father were promoters. Rhea’s close associate Shruti Modi has signed as a witness on most of the company documents, as she was looking after the business of these companies. Sushant’s father has named Shruti Modi in his FIR, and Bihar police may call her for interrogation. She was earlier working as a manager for Rhea and her brother.
The most surprising part is that the crack team of Bihar police has unearthed details about the case in three days, which their Mumbai counterparts failed to collect during the last 46 days.
A legal battle is looming in the Supreme Court with Rhea Chakraborty filing a petition seeking to transfer the FIR filed by Sushant’s father before Patna Police to Mumbai police for investigation. However, the Bihar government and Sushant Singh’s father have filed caveats in the SC while opposing this plea. The Bihar government has engaged senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi for this case.
In her petition before the SC, Rhea Chakraborty has said that she was in a live-in relationship with Sushant Singh Rajput for a year till June 8, when she left for her home. “The deceased was suffering from depression for some time and was on anti-depressants and committed suicide on June 14 at his Bandra residence”, says Rhea’s petition. She has sought transfer of the FIR to Mumbai police by saying that Bihar police had no jurisdiction in inquire into the case as the incident took place in Mumbai.
Sushant’s death is still hogging news headlines because the circumstances relating to his death are still shrouded in mystery. Sushant was a successful, young, intelligent and strong-willed actor. The mystery is yet to be unravelled as to why he chose to commit suicide. Was he acting under pressure? Facts are slowly tumbling out now.
For the last 44 days, false innuendoes and baseless conspiracy theories were being circulated by people who hardly knew the actor. The person who had to bear the biggest loss was Sushant’s father, Krishna Kishore Singh, because he has lost his son. When Sushant’s father levelled allegations against Rhea in his FIR, Bollywood was stunned.
For 44 days, the Mumbai police neither pondered over this angle nor did it work towards that direction. The investigators were only summoning Bollywood biggies, directors and actors to record their statements while making them sit for hours. In contrast, the Bihar police investigators worked at incredible speed and collected details.
Rumours were floated that Rhea has absconded, some alleged that some invisible hands were at work behind Rhea, but Bihar police has rejected these speculations. One allegation was made that somebody who is at the top of Mumbai police was helping Rhea, but Bihar police have no grounds to accept this assumption.
Bihar police have said it will question Rhea at the right time, but at this moment, it is seeking to find out some vital clues. It is trying to find answers to questions raised by Sushant’s father in his FIR. For example, did Rhea try to keep Sushant away from his family? Did she siphon off Rs 15 crores from his account? Did Rhea insist on Bollywood producers signing her as the female lead in offers that were meant for Sushant? Rhea has tried to give replies to some of these questions in her petition, but a few vital questions remain still unanswered. For example, what provoked Rhea to leave the flat-six days before Sushant committed suicide?
From an overall viewpoint, the entire controversy now seems to be limited to Sushant’s and Rhea’s families. Allegations of nepotism and favouritism by Bollywood biggies and about Sushant being thrown out from movies were making the rounds, but these seem to hold no water after Sushant’s father filed his FIR in Patna. For 44 days, Mumbai police were on a fishing expedition, questioning Bollywood biggies to find out whether conspiracy theories about nepotism were true or not. It uncovered nothing. The truth, I hope, will soon be out.
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