Actor Swara Bhasker has called for the release of Rhea Chakraborty, who remains incarcerated at the Byculla Jail for allegedly procuring banned drugs for her boyfriend, the late actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Sushant died on June 14, and his family has accused Rhea of abetting his suicide and misappropriating his funds. Her judicial custody had been extented to October 6.
In a tweet supporting Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, Adhir Chowdhury’s calls for Rhea’s release, Swara wrote, “Well done sir!” and added applause emojis, using the hashtag “Release Rhea Chakraborty.” The comments come shortly after an AIIMS forensic team tasked with re-evaluating Sushant’s post-mortem report concluded that the actor died by suicide, and wasn’t murdered.
“We are all pained by the expiry of Sushant ji but he cannot be honoured by falsely implicating a lady as an accused, I have earlier said that Rhea Chakroborty was an innocent lady, she should be released without further harassment to her, she has been the victim of Political conspiracy,” the MP had written in a tweet.
On Saturday, a panel of AIIMS doctors termed Sushant’s death ‘a case of hanging and death by suicide’. In a report submitted to the CBI on September 29, the six-member team of forensic doctors said that there were ‘no injuries on the body other than of hanging’ nor was ‘presence of any seductive material’ detected, dismissing claims of strangulation and poisoning.
Swara has spoken often about Rhea’s trial by media. “India… witness our lowest! Shameful witch hunt! Disgusting,” she had written in a September 6 tweet.
In a column published in The Week, Swara had written that after the initial debate around nepotism, attention was diverted to Rhea after Sushant’s father filed an FIR against her in Patna. “This led to a shocking slander campaign and hysterical media trial that has practically declared Rhea to be a murderess, with no proof, based on contorted facts, rank misinformation and what are now being proven to be lies,” Swara wrote.
Sushant’s death is being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation. The Narcotics Control Bureau and the Enforcement Directorate are conducting separate investigations into the drugs and financial angles of the case.
