Actress Rhea Chakraborty released an official statement on Tuesday, revealing details of her relationship with Sushant Singh Rajput (SSR), what strained her relationship with Sushant’s family and how their allegations are fabricated. A four-page statement was shared with The Daily Guardian by Rhea’s lawyer Satish Maneshinde, on behalf of the actress. In the statement, Rhea says that she did not even know Aaditya Thackeray. Excerpts from the statement:
‘Rhea’s silence should not be mistaken for weakness’
The media is requested not to speculate its theories and make unsubstantiated claims. She has remained silent to such allegations. Her silence should not be mistaken for weakness. The truth will remain the same.
Rhea and Sushant have known each other over the past several years as they were both working in the Indian film industry. Rhea and Sushant had maintained a cordial friendship and would occasionally communicate with each other. In April 2019, Rhea and Sushant had attended a party hosted by the film fraternity and shortly thereafter they began dating each other. Even though they spent a lot of time in each other’s homes, they officially moved in together in December 2019 and lived in Mount Blanc Apartments, Bandra, till Rhea left on 8 June 2020.
‘Why were allegations made after 40 days?’
It is total nonsense and an afterthought to make allegations after 40 days, how it has been made before Bihar Police. No allegations whatsoever were made till 27 July 2020 by anybody in the family before the Mumbai Police or to any authority. Their statements were recorded by police in Mumbai. They are educated and have an IPS officer OP Singh in the family. The allegations are concocted and fabricated for ulterior purposes. Rhea denies all allegations of abetment of suicide, misappropriation of funds and others or otherwise.
Both the Mumbai Police and ED have been handed over all of Rhea’s financial documents which clearly show the falsity of such allegations. She has not received a single transfer from Sushant’s accounts. All her ITR have been examined by police as well as ED. Neither of them has found anything incriminating against her.
‘Priyanka behaved inappropriately with Rhea’
In the initial months of their relationship, when Rhea had visited Sushant’s house, his sister Priyanka and her husband Siddharth were living with him. On one night, in and around April 2019, Rhea and Priyanka had gone out to a party. Priyanka consumed copious amounts of alcohol and was behaving inappropriately with men and women at that party. So, Rhea insisted that they return to Sushant’s home. Upon returning, Sushant and his sister continued drinking alcohol while Rhea retired for the night as she had a shoot the next morning.
Rhea was asleep in Sushant’s room when she suddenly awoke to find Priyanka had got into bed with her and was groping her. Rhea was extremely shocked and demanded that she leave the room immediately. Subsequently, Rhea herself left the house. Thereafter, Rhea informed Sushant as to what had transpired and Sushant got into an argument with his sister regarding the same.
‘Rhea wasn’t allowed to attend Sushant’s funeral’
Due to the aforesaid incident, the relationship between Sushant’s family and Rhea had been strained since inception. Even after his death when a list of 20 people was made to attend the funeral, Rhea’s name was not included in the list and hence excluded from attending the funeral.
‘Therapy session due to anxiety issues’
Rhea had been suffering from anxiety issues and often endured panic attacks. Sushant’s conduct also aggravated these conditions. Even though Rhea was desirous of seeing her family, she was not at all comfortable leaving Sushant but had to since his sister Meethu came to live with him on 8 June 2020. On the very same day, Rhea had arranged to have a therapy session of her own with Dr Susan Walker and requested Sushant if she could leave after the session. However, Sushant told her to leave immediately before his sister Meethu arrived. Thus Rhea reluctantly left and informed Sushant to let her or her brother know about anything he required or in case he needed to talk.
Rhea has always maintained that she would like the truth of the matter to be revealed by virtue of a fair and impartial investigation. She has admitted in her petition to the SC that she sent a message to Union Home Minister Amit Shah to order a CBI investigation. She has also informed the SC that if the court transfers it to CBI she had no objection. What she has challenged is the illegal registration and investigation of Bihar Police without jurisdiction and transfer to CBI of an illegal investigation.
‘Mistrust in Bihar Police investigation’
Unless the Maharashtra government consents to a CBI investigation, the case cannot be transferred to CBI. Instead, the Bihar government ought to have transferred the investigation to Mumbai Police as per the notification issued by the Union Government. The very foundation of the federal structure is at stake by the present actions for Bihar government. As per law, the Bihar Police ought to have registered a 0 FIR and transferred the investigation to the Mumbai Police. The Bihar Police has no jurisdiction to investigate the case. Rhea will not submit to an illegal investigation.
Various reasons made my client apprehensive about the nature of the investigation that would be conducted by the Bihar Police. They registered the FIR on the same day that the complaint was received, despite a delay of over 40 days.
The Bihar Police arrived in Mumbai without ever summoning my client to cooperate with their investigation. Several newspaper articles were quoting the advocate of the complainant as having stated that the Bihar Police were hesitant to register the FIR but did so at the behest of the political leadership in Bihar.
My Client has not shied away from cooperating with any investigating agency till date but she is entitled to a fair and impartial investigation by an agency that has jurisdiction to investigate the case. How the proceedings were instituted and being conducted in Bihar made it appear unlikely that she would receive fair treatment.