The Sushant Singh Rajput death case is getting murkier with several new angles emerging after he was found hanging in his room in Mumbai on June 14 last. There were expectations that there would be some let-up in the cacophony over TV channels and beyond, after the Supreme Court directed the CBI to conduct the investigations. But that has not happened. The media trial is progressing at a frenetic pace with Rajput’s former live-in partner Rhea Chakraborty being subjected to the most horrifying media haranguing each time she is summoned for questioning by the CBI and other agencies.
After the media had created the perception that Sushant Singh Rajput did not die of suicide but was murdered, the public began to doubt the original version advanced by the Mumbai police and confirmed in the post mortem report. Now there are doubts created even about the actors state of mind despite reputed psychiatrists certifying that the 34 year old actor was under treatment for depression. It is clear to the perceptive mind that there is a lot of politics in the Sushant Singh Rajput case with Bihar police stepping in on a crime that occurred outside their jurisdiction. Suspicions are rife that there are links between chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s son and cabinet minister Aaditya Thackeray and Sushant’s death. The state police quarantining a team of police officials arriving in Mumbai to investigate the case on instructions from Bihar Police added to this suspicion. Bihar police that acted on a complaint from Sushant’s father perhaps over-reacted. As Bihar is set for assembly polls soon, a political motive was attributed to this overzealousness.
Notably, Sushant’s father raised issues about the death a month after the incident. He was possibly carried away by the media blitz. Considering Sushant’s huge popularity in Bollywood and as a TV serial actor, it is right that the media should devote some time to this story but it is now close to three months after the incident and all that television channels have time for is to discuss and analyse this issue ad nauseum. And in all this, what comes to the fore is the sexism and misogyny that is barely hidden in the Indian TV media. Rhea Chakraborty has already been pronounced guilty by the media even before she is charge-sheeted and the court hearings have begun.
It is a fact that there are unholy goings-on in Bollywood in which drugs play an important part. Even the sudden death of actress Sridevi raised suspicions. That story too went through a media trial but ended there. It is time to let the CBI do its job in the Sushant death probe and wait for the court verdict. A media trial for any crime is the last thing this country needs. And politics only turns things very murky.
