It has been almost two months since we woke up to the shocking news of Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. Within few minutes of the news being broken, images of SSR’s dead body started circulating in the social media. It also came to light that SSR had not left any suicide note behind, which is only expected when a person commits suicide. However, Mumbai Police, which Maharashtra politicians are comparing with Scotland Yard, within minutes concluded that SSR was under severe depression which had led him to commit suicide. In following weeks, several theories for his depression were floated which included SSR being out of job due to nepotism and also being bipolar and schizophrenic. The nation went along the narrative and Mumbai Police was on the verge of closing the case. It was not until the brave journalists of Republic TV delved deeper and spoke to a few persons associated with the case that another angle of the case, of possibility of homicide, emerged. During past two weeks Republic TV has been relentless in its investigation of the case and some startling revelations have been made. Take a look:
• On 9th June Mumbai Police had informed the media that Disha Salian, a former manager of SSR, had committed suicide by jumping from the window of her flat. Police immediately declared this to be a case of suicide without holding any proper inquest. Post-mortem was held more than 72 hours after she fell from the building. And no video recording of her post-mortem was done which is mandatory as per law. The case was closed in less than a week without any formal investigation.
• In SSR’s case also, police, within minutes had concluded that it was a case of suicide despite there being several tell-tale signs, which have now come to light, of this being a case of possible homicide. I am certain the experienced officers of Mumbai police would not have missed those signs.
• As per established procedure the police need to conduct an inquest before coming to any conclusion in case of any unnatural death under section 174 Cr.P.c and an inquest report is prepared. After preparing the inquest report, the police officer may come to one of the two conclusions; either there has been a foul play or there has been none. Only after an inquest is conducted and report prepared, the conclusion so drawn can be made public. In both the cases neither the inquest was held nor any report prepared. How come police in both the cases, without any formal inquest, immediately concluded that these were cases of suicide, is the million-dollar question.
• The ligature mark on SSR’s neck was not consistent with the suicide theory. Forensic experts have gone on record to say that the mark looked closer to what is generally seen in cases of strangulation. A renowned forensic expert who came live on Republic Tv debate said in no uncertain terms that this was a case of homicide. He even went on to challenge the Mumbai Police to make the same marks on a dummy’s neck by hanging it to a fan with the piece of same cloth which, it is claimed, Sushant used to end his life.
• Interestingly there is not a single – photo or video – evidence of SSR’s body hanging from the fan. No person apart from Siddharth Pithani and the cook saw the body hanging. There are three versions of how SSR’s body was brought down. Siddharth Pithani, SSRs flatmate, says he brought it down, while the ambulance driver claims it was he who had brought down the body. Ambulance owner says that body was brought down by the police. In normal circumstances, these inconsistencies in statements should have been enough for re-examination of the case by Mumbai Police.
• One of SSR’s friend has gone on record stating that in the morning of 9th June he had a 22-minute conversation with Sushant during which Sushant had told him that Disha Salian had met the same fate as Jiah Khan. During the conversation, he stated, SSR had also told him that he had discussed the matter with Sandeep Ssingh, a friend of Sushant, and was planning to go public with the details of Disha’s case. This has been corroborated by SSRs family friend Smita who said that SSR was very anxious after Disha’s death and even said, “ye log mujhe nahi Chhodenge’.
• Sandeep Singh is the guy who claimed that he was not in touch with SSR for more than ten months but mysteriously turned up at SSRs residence after his death and took over the charge including taking his body for post-mortem. His statements regarding how he came to know about the incident and reached SSRs residence have been inconsistent. He, on air, said that he was home when he came to know about Sushant’s death. However, Sanjay Niruam has contradicted his statement saying Sandeep was with him when the news came.
• Most of the persons who were associated with SSR have clearly stated that SSR did not have any health issues prior to his association with Rhea Chakraborty. Therefore, it becomes important to investigate as to why was the theory of him being bipolar and Schizophrenic being circulated and why did his psychologist go public with details of his illness breaching the patient doctor confidentiality, if at all he was sick.
• There are more mysteries shrouding death of Disha Salian. Police had claimed that they had taken her body to hospital in an ambulance, a claim which has now been disputed by the witnesses including the security head of the building. Now it has been confirmed that she was taken to hospital by her friends in a red colour car.
• Eyewitnesses have stated that Disha’s body had fallen outside the campus of the building she lived in. How was it possible for a girl to jump more than twenty feet, distance of Disha’s building and outer boundary is said to be more, is a question that doesn’t have any logical answer except that she didn’t jump but was flung from the building.
• It was revealed by ‘Republic’, that Disha’s body at the time of post-mortem did not have a shred of cloth on it. Police on the other hand claimed that her body had clothes on and the same had been photographed by them. If we believe, what police is saying is true, then the question is who and why removed clothes from her body before post-mortem. Post-mortem guidelines clearly state that clothes can be taken off only at the time of post-mortem after observations regarding state of the clothes have been made by the doctor performing the act and recorded in writing. Was it done to destroy forensic evidences?
• It has been widely reported by various media platforms that the CCTV footage of Rajput’s building from the night before he died is not available. Interestingly CCTV footage of the night of occurrence from Disha’s building has also gone missing.
• There are reports that the Sushant changed over 50 SIM cards after Disha’s death. A person who has been using one or two sims for years does not start changing sims every hour until he is in immense duress.
• SSR’s cook who claims to be the first, along with Pithani, to enter the room has said that his body was hanging diagonally, and his legs were protruding from the bed. There have been reports in the media that distance between SSR’s bed and fan was less than SSR’s height. Mumbai police, which was duty bound to recreate the scene of supposed method of death with a dummy, will find difficult to explain as to how did SSR manage to hang himself when his height was more than the distance between the fan and the bed.
• Act of details of Rajput’s medical reports being made public and subsequent floating of theory of his bipolarism and Schizophrenia also look planned to tarnish the image of SSR and make theory of so-called suicide credulous.
In view of the above revelations this was only expected that Mumbai Police thanked Republic Tv for doing Police’s job and started investigating the homicide angles in both the cases. But alas, that was not to be. There is no logical explanation of Mumbai Police recording statements of 56 persons, some of whom were not even remotely associated with SSR, without filing an FIR which is mandatory for starting any investigation. It bewilders me that Mumbai Police has yet not questioned and recorded statements of Siddharth Pitahni and Sandeep Ssingh who appear to be the most important witnesses in the case.
As per set practice, cases are reopened and re-examined, even after judicial closure in some cases, if new evidences emerge, sometimes after years of closure. In the instant case, Republic TV has been bringing startling revelations every day for almost a month. However, Maharashtra Govt. and Mumbai Police have continuously been looking ways to close both the cases as soon as possible. Governments and Police are supposed to be custodian of Law and Order and facilitate delivery of justice to victims of criminal offences. Contrary to their constitutional duties both Maharashtra Govt. and Mumbai Police are trying to subvert justice.
This can’t be without reason which only indicates involvement of someone at the very top in Maharashtra Govt. who is interested in getting both cases closed. Had it not been for Republic Tv’s relentless pursuit for truth, both cases would have been closed by now. We should also salute the courage of septuagenarian father of SSR who filed a case in Bihar for a fair probe in the case which led the matter to go to CBI and the highest court of India. We can only hope that apex court allows CBI to go ahead with its probe and complete its investigation in a time bound manner so as the culprits of SSR and Disha are brought to book and justice given to their families.
PS: I did not watch all SSR’s films, but he left lasting impression in the few I watched. I was most impressed by his portrayal of Dhoni and Vyomkesh Bakshi. Though, more than an actor, he always impressed me with his demeanor in public life. He always came across as an immensely likable person and a wonderful human being who was a star in real life too. He always helped people around him. One of his former choreographers has said that SSR saved him when he was on the verge of ending his life. This tells volumes about character, strength and humility of SSR. He was an engineering student with deep interest in astronomy, astrophysics, and AI. He had even bought a telescope at home to view the moon, stars, and galaxies. SSR often spoke to his fans about his passion for astrophysics. Not many will know that Sushant was preparing for Moon 2024 mission by NASA! His wish list, things to do in life, was about simple pleasures of life and had no connection with Bollywood. Amidst the sea of mediocrity in bollywood, he was an aberration. He was vivacious, full of life and lived in the moment. Had plans for future.
One fine day he is found dead in his home and people star telling you that he committed suicide due to his depression even though no suicide note was found. To support this theory comes a certificate from Dr. Mahesh Bhatt, who met only twice with SSR, that the deceased was bipolar and Schizophrenic. If you do not know, Mr. Bhatt in past had the same things to say about late Parveen Bobby who had ended her life as she could no longer take the humiliation being meted out. Sounds eerily similar! Seems the Bollywood mafia had similar plans for SSR. The stories of him being isolated in the industry had been circulating in social media even before his death. This is a fact that supari journalists like Rajeev Masand had been writing blinds about him. He had even alleged that Sushant had molested a budding actress without providing a shred of evidence. These monsters had pushed SSR into a corner and he was seriously contemplating leaving Bollywood for good and go to Coorg to do organic farming.
However, it is evident, he became privy to what happened to Disha and paid the price for it by his life. If that was not enough, channels like Aaj Tak and India Today are doing exclusive interviews with people who are suspected to be main accused in both the case. Sadly, these channels have taken no such pain to do an interview with the bereaved family. Rajdeep Sardesai even went on to say that people are wrong to put pressure on Mumbai Police as SSR was not that big a star. Means if you are not a big star, people are not even allowed the liberty to fight for justice even if you are killed. What a shame!
I never thought demise of a film star or for that matter any other person unrelated to me would affect me like SSR’s death has. He was isolated in Bollywood during his life. And these monsters are not allowing him justice even after his death. This is a sad commentary on the state of society we are living in. Therefore, I, have to say this……Dear Sushant……We never deserved you. We are sorry. And helpless. We didn’t do justice to you when you lived. We are not doing justice to you when you have left. We should hang our heads in collective shame.
CBIforSSR #JusticeForSushant #opindia #IshkaranSinghBhandari
