Even though June 14 marks a year since the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has not yet submitted a charge-sheet in the case. Two more national agencies - Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also probing other aspects of the case. In fact, it is very interesting to note that the current Wikipedia page on the actor mentions that he died by suicide, despite the fact that the investigations are still going on. 'Rajput died by suicide at his home in Bandra, Mumbai in June 2020, aged 34. His last film, Dil Bechara (2020), was released posthumously,' mentions the page. Mumbai police, which began investigation in 2020, has categorically mentioned that no suicide note has been found yet.
The demise of the actor, who played a lead role in a number of Bollywood films and had a considerably large fan following, left the country in shock and led to endless speculations regarding the reason behind his death. Of these, the most significant has been the alleged drug nexus in Bollywood that got highlighted in the course of the investigation, leading to high profile celebrities being pulled up for questioning, including actress Deepika Padukone. In her latest statement to the NCB, actress and Rajput's former girlfriend. Rhea Chakraborty has reportedly accused Sara Ali Khan of drugging him by saying that Khan and Rajput got hooked onto drugs on the sets of Kedarnath, their film together.
As of date, after close to 10 months of investigation, NCB Zonal director Sameer Wankhede told THE WEEK that the agency has so far "arrested 35 accused, seized 7 kilos of drugs and Rs 35 lakh in cash along with some foreign currency. The investigation, he said, is still going on. Advocate Vikas Singh who appears for Rajput's family said that given the mystery surrounding the death, it is not surprising that the chargesheet has not been filed yet. "It all took place inside a closed room and we are not sure of what exactly happened. The family awaits justice," he said.
Rajput's death also led to speculations about the actor falling prey to nepotism within the industry. "I feel that things like lobbying and nepotism exist in every profession, and it is no different for Bollywood. Nepotism has slowed down or altogether stopped many aspiring artists in the industry and it will not be incorrect to say that Sushant too, must've faced nepotism at some point in his career," says Jaideep Pandey, an independent journalist who has been writing on Bollywood for over a decade.
It all began in June last year when Rajput's father registered an FIR in the family's home in Patna accusing six people, including actor Rhea Chakraborty and her family members, of abetting the actor's suicide. The FIR stated that Rs 15 crore had been transferred from his son's account to a few other bank accounts. That got the ED involved to probe alleged money laundering and this was followed with the case being transferred from the Bihar police to the CBI for investigation. The latter recreated the scene inside the actor's house and also got the All India Institute of Medical Sciences to submit a forensic report. Meanwhile the ED got NCB to investigate the consumption of drugs after the former found mentions of drugs in mobile data of those it questioned.
"Sushant has been brutally murdered and there is a conspiracy going on, to declare it as a suicide. The evidence has been sabotaged and the crime scene has been compromised. A television channel was seen showing the entire place barely hours after the death was reported. We are still awaiting justice. The investigations by all these agencies have opened up a pandora's box, yet, it is taking time for the investigations to really come to a conclusion. There are a lot of dark secrets hidden, the mafia as well as many powerful people are involved in this case. We are fighting for Rajput's justice not just in India but globally. There is so much evidence screaming at us saying that there is definitely something fishy given that the statements by those who were close to him including Siddharth Pathani, Miranda, and other boys have been contradictory. The first statement by Siddharth Pathani that he saw Rajput hanging from a ceiling fan inside the room is in itself impossible because for a man who is 6 feet in height it is impossible to hang from the ceiling with the distance between the bed and the ceiling being no more than 5 feet eleven inches. Also, most importantly nobody saw him hanging from the ceiling, not even his sister who arrived at the scene 20 minutes later," said Smita Parekh, in an interview to THE WEEK. Parekh, a poet, bonded with Rajput over poetry recitals and songs. The duo also worked together in the area of education of children in rural India, a cause for which Rajput too, was passionate about.
Well-known singer Rahul Vaidya who shared "a bond" with Rajput and connected with him over "movies, music, and space," remembers how the actor "really liked" some of Vaidya's many compositions. "He was someone who knew exactly where he wanted to go in life. He was very ambitious and driven."
Rajput kicked off his Bollywood career with Kai Po Che and thereafter went on to act in several Bollywood films, most of which went on to deliver box-office success. His films include Raabta, MS Dhoni..., Chhichhore, PK, Dil Bechara, Detective Byomkesh Bakshi and several others. But even then, he is said to have missed out on many other big-ticket films, which were offered to him but failed to take off or were replaced with other actors. For instance, during the investigations into Rajput's death, filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali had reportedly said that he had offered Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela, Bajirao Mastani and Padmaavat to Rajput. However, due to date issues, Sushant could not be a part of any of these films, all of which went on to do stellar business at the box office.
Ahead of his first death anniversary, actor Prateik Babbar who was Rajput's co-star in Chhichhore, spoke about how approachable the late actor was. "He was very warm and affable. He'd drift off into his own world occasionally, dreaming about everything he loved," he said. A few days back, actress Kriti Sanon who played the lead role in the 2017 film Raabta, alongside Rajput, posted a video clip on Instagram to mark four years of the film. The post. which began with a dialogue from the film, read, "Tan lade, tan muk jaaye. Rooh jude, judi reh jaaye (When the bodies connect, they wither and die. When souls connect, they remain connected). I believe in connection; I believe that we are meant to meet the people we do. My Raabta with Rajput, Dinoo (Dinesh Vijan) and Maddock Films was just meant to be..." She ended the note by sharing that the film will always be close to her heart as it was her "first and last" film with Rajput.