Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput's dead body was found in his Bandra residence on June 14, 2020. His untimely death shook the country with people claiming that it was not suicide but a planned murder and a probe was demanded by his fans. Sushant's final post-mortem report came on June 25 and was prepared by a team of five doctors. The report clearly stated that the actor died of suffocation after hanging. While his death was also termed as suicide in the viscera report.
Meanwhile, people alleged that due to the involvement of big stars and politicians, the police are not fairly investigating the case.
Some believed it was nepotism, and groupism in the Hindi film industry that took Sushant’s life, on the other hand, it was alleged that powerful leaders are suppressing the case by supporting celebrities. Few politicians sympathised with Rajput’s family giving it a political look.
Tomorrow, Sushant’s death will complete a year. Let's see how politics was played over a dead person.
Involvement of politics
Several politicians, actors and Sushant’s friend including actor and comedian Shekhar Suman and actor's friend Sandeep Singh reached Patna to meet Sushant’s grieving family on June 30. Shekhar Suman after meeting his family had organized a press conference outside Rajput’s house with RJD leader and former Deputy CM of Bihar Tejashwi Yadav, using the actors’ posters which had caused more distress to the family.
Lok Janshakti Party chief and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan's son Chirag Paswan added fuel to Sushant’s case by saying that his death could become an issue in the coming Bihar elections.
Sushant's family is close to the BJP and in such a situation it was being said that the party was trying to regain its roots in his name in Bihar.
Political gain over Sushant’s death
Leaders from Bihar were pleading for justice on every news channel. They were loud in getting justice for the decided soul. Several conspiracy angles were put before the people of Bihar, giving it a colour of injustice to the entire state. People were protesting on the streets of Bihar demanding a CBI inquiry and demanding the truth to come out. All these protests were being led by political leaders. However, the actor has been forgotten by these leaders.
Bihar Police on the scene
On July 25, KK Singh, father of Sushant Singh Rajput, lodged an FIR against Rhea Chakraborty and her family members at Rajiv Nagar police station in Patna. He alleged that Rhea, her father Inderjit, mother Sandhya, brother Shouvik, Sushant's former manager Shruti Modi and house manager Samuel Miranda mishandled Rs 15 crore from Sushant's account.
No cooperation from Mumbai police
On Sushant’s father's complaint, an SIT team from the Patna police reached Mumbai on July 28, for more information for the case and slowly Mumbai police stopped digging more into the case. Rhea soon disappeared. The Supreme court too was involved in calling for a shift of case from Patna to Mumbai.
The case took a dramatic turn when the Mumbai police was accused of not cooperating with the Patna police and supporting Rajput’s alleged girlfriend. Patna city SP Vinay Tiwari, who arrived in Mumbai to probe into the case, was forcibly sent for 14 days quarantine. Soon the matter became a pride issue between Mumbai vs Patna after the Mumbai police went slow with the case. Alleging that because BJP is the opposition in Maharashtra and is in power in Bihar and at the centre, the Uddhav Thackeray government is protecting the culprits and doesn’t want the truth to be disclosed. Uddhave Thackeray is a staunch opponent of the Modi government.
A debate saying that people from Bihar are mistreated in Maharashtra also rapidly surfaced on social media, saying Sushant’s case was discriminated against because he belonged to Bihar.
CM Uddhav Thackeray against CBI probe
Alleging that Mumbai police’s investigation was not fair enough, people demanded a CBI enquiry into Sushant’s case. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar too demanded a CBI investigation but Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray was not in favour of it. Maharashtra CM condemned the demand for a CBI enquiry and accused those who questioned the Mumbai Police of doing cheap politics, stating that he was appalled how people were making it an issue of two states and bringing animosity. He urged those who had evidence to reveal them and the case will be probed.
Also Read: Sushant Singh Rajput's Life Journey: From A Background Dancer To A Shining Bollywood Star
Aaditya Thackeray’s name linked to the case
Soon Maharashtra leader and CM Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aaditya Thackeray name was linked to Rajput’s case.
According to claims by BJP leader Narayan Rane in a statement, on June 13 (a night before Sushant's death), a party was organised by Sushant and a few politicians had also attended the party. The party took place at Dino Morea’s house and then everyone left for Sushant’s house, where Aditya Thackeray was also present, said Rane.
The Thackeray family has a close association with Bollywood. Aaditya has been seen at many Bollywood parties and has relations with Bollywood stars. Thus, the theory that Aaditya was trying to suppress the case to save his friends using his political affiliation started doing rounds.
A few days before, Sushant’s death, his former manager Disha Salian was in the news after she committed suicide by falling from her building’s terrace. It was reported that some documents relating to Disha’s case were missing from the police station. Therefore, it was believed that it could not have been possible with political pressure.
Aaditya Thackeray under pressure to resign
Further, BJP leader Narayan Rane and his son Nitesh Rane accused Aaditya Thackeray of pressurizing the Mumbai Police to stop the investigation. Rane started the #BabyPenguinresign hashtag on Junior Thackeray and it went viral on Twitter, demanding him to resign from the Maharashtra cabinet.
On the other hand, Parth Pawar, the grandson of NCP Chief Sharad Pawar and son of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, was seen supporting the opposition in Sushant's case allegations, and demanded CBI probe, saying truth shall prevail.
Supreme Court ordered CBI probe into SSR case
After hearing all the sides, on August 19, the Supreme Court handed over the investigation of the case to the CBI. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed after a fresh FIR was registered on 6 August last year. The team was led by Gujarat cadre IPS officer Manoj Shashidhar, who is considered close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. Gagandeep Gambhir and Nupur Prasad are other officers in the four-member SIT team. Anil Yadav will be the investigating officer in this case.
SSR fans still waiting for justice
The CBI investigating the case has not reached any conclusion yet.
Sushant's friend and choreographer Ganesh Hiwarkar recently filed RTI to know the update of the case, to which the CBI has not sent any response.
It will be a year since Sushant Singh Rajput committed suicide and his true fans never fail to remember him. He keeps trending on social media by his fans, reminding the probing agency that they will never forget what has been done to the late actor.