Patna / Mumbai: The father of the late actor Sushant Singh Rajput, K K Singh, has given a twist to his son’s alleged suicide by registering an FIR against actress Rhea Chakraborty in Patna, accusing her of abetment, among other charges.
The father has alleged a business relationship between Rhea and Sushant and accused the latter of defrauding the deceased of Rs 17 crore. More important, she has been accused of harassing him financially and mentally.
(For the record, Sushant and Rhea had dated for a while before the actor died by hanging on June 14. The 34-year-old actor's untimely demise had ignited a huge debate about his mental health on social media.)
The allegations, which have surfaced 45 days after Sushant’s demise, have acquired a life of their own amid the raging row over nepotism in the film industry.
Specifically, Sushant’s father has alleged that Reha had access to the ATM and credit cards of the deceased and the money was deposited in the accounts of her family members. Sushant's account in Kotak Mahindra Bank was also emptied by her, he has alleged. Incidentally, at the time of Sushant’s suicide, no such allegations were made.
In the five-page FIR, Sushant’s father has further alleged that Rhea was deliberately keeping his only son away from the family. (K K Singh has four daughters as well). He has named Rhea’s parents, siblings and her manager, too, in the FIR. They have all been accused of harassing Sushant and defrauding him in a case where the lines between sense and sensationalism are getting blurred by the day.
The FIR has been registered in Patna under Sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 342 (wrongful confinement), 380 (theft), 406 (breach of trust), 420 (cheating) and 306 (abetment to suicide) of the IPC. Sushant's father had not registered a complaint with Mumbai Police when he was questioned by them in June. He had not said anything disparaging about anyone in Rhea’s family either. Sushant allegedly wanted to invest in organic farming, to which Rhea was opposed; to dissuade him, she had even threatened to leak to media all details of his medical problems.
Rhea, it is further alleged, was a director in two of Sushant’s companies; in one company, her brother too was a director. Sushant, it is understood, had invested heavily in these companies. As part of this business relationship, her foreign tour expenses too were cleared by Sushant, according to the FIR. Not just that, it is alleged that Rhea had decamped with Sushant’s laptop and jewellery, too, two days before the actor’s demise. A Patna police team has arrived in Mumbai to investigate the matter. Bandra Police are already investigating the death and have already questioned Rhea in connection with the case. In her statement, Rhea had revealed that Sushant had ended his contract with Yash Raj Films (YRF) and had even asked her to do the same. Earlier this month, Rhea has called for a CBI probe into Sushant’s death, tagging Union Home Minister Amit Shah in a post on Instagram.
The actress has disclosed that she has been receiving rape and murder threats on social media over the actor's death; her lament is that she "only wants to understand what prompted him to take the step". Around 40 people have recorded their statements so far in the case, including director-producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali, filmmaker Aditya Chopra, director Mukesh Chhabra, filmmaker Shekhar Kapoor and film critic Rajeev Masand, among others. The four-member police team from Patna, led by Inspector Nishant Singh, will meet Rhea’s family members.
The charges in FIR:
Sushant wanted to shift base to Coorg but Rhea said he could not.
When Sushant refused, she decamped with cash, jewellery, credit cards, important documents, a laptop and his medical records.
She also blocked his number on her phone.
Sushant told his sister that Rhea had taken all documents and had threatened to disclose before the media that he has gone mad.
Rhea was not allowing Sushant to sign any film. Whenever a proposal came up, she said he would accept if she had the lead role opposite him.
Sushant's reliable and old staff was replaced by Rhea.
In December 2019, Rhea forcibly made Sushant change his mobile number to stop him from talking to his family.
She also did not allow him to visit his family in Patna.
In 2019, Sushant had Rs 17 crore in his account but within months Rs 15 crore was transferred to accounts not linked to him.
