Rahul Raj Singh recently opened up about the time when he was accused of murdering his girlfriend and actor Pratyusha Banerjee in 2016.
What's Happening
- In an interview with Free Press Journal, Rahul Raj Singh recounted their relationship, the emotional struggles Pratyusha was facing, and the events that unfolded on the day she died.
- Rahul said Pratyusha was affected by her father's behaviour.
- He said, "She was in a very messed-up situation when we met. She was not doing well mentally, so at that time, we got emotionally attached and dated for around 10 months before she passed away. She wasn't doing well because her father was a very bad human being. He used to abuse her, and she used to get very affected by that. It used to break her."
- He also recalled their last phone call and her fragile emotional state just hours before her death.
- He shared, "2-3 days before her death, there was a conversation between her father and her where some abuses happened. In our last conversation, I was asking her, why are you feeling so bad? She said she doesn't like to hear abuses. So I asked, who is abusing you? She said it's her father who is abusing her. When a father abuses his daughter, it affects a lot. I also have a daughter, so I imagine that if I am abusing her, how bad would she feel? Pratyusha used to tell me, 'I am earning and my father is spending all that drinking alcohol.' How bad is that? It affects people's minds."
- Rahul described the moment he found her unresponsive inside the apartment.
- He said, "I was the first one to reach and with the help of a locksmith, we tried to open the door. Our flat had a balcony that was interconnected. We were trying to open the gate because even when I rang the bell, she wasn't opening. I tried to break the lock. I had a bad feeling. I thought maybe she was drunk or had gone to sleep."
- "So the locksmith went from behind, and he got scared. His hands were trembling. The lock wasn't opening from inside because he got nervous seeing her hanging. When he opened the door and I looked up, she was hanging in a black satin dress. It was very bad. I gathered my courage and took her to the hospital. She was alive while I was taking her there. I even tried to give her CPR, but she didn't make it," he added.
- He said he was blamed instantly and shut out from even attending her funeral.
- He concluded, "When all this happened, they put the entire blame on me and the investigation went completely off track. They didn't even let me go to the cremation ground. These people kept saying, 'He is the murderer, he killed her, he hung her.' What motive would I have to hang her? Did I come to Bombay to kill my own girlfriend? People kept saying these things, and even today, I am called a 'murderer.'"
Background
Pratyusha was found hanging in her Mumbai apartment on April 1, 2016. The postmortem report cited asphyxia as the cause of death. Her parents alleged that she had been murdered and filed a complaint against Rahul. Rahul, on the other hand, has consistently maintained that Pratyusha was deeply troubled due to issues at home.
Police later found beer cans and liquor bottles in her home. Reports at the time also suggested financial distress, including unpaid loans.
A case was filed against Rahul under IPC sections 306 (abetment of suicide), 504 (intentional insult), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt). His discharge plea was rejected by a Mumbai sessions court.
Following Pratyusha's death, Rahul was arrested. He was later granted anticipatory bail by the Bombay High Court on July 2, 2016.
In August 2023, Additional Sessions Judge SJ Ansari observed that Pratyusha had expressed suicidal thoughts to her aunt and a tarot card reader, noting, "She had expressed her desire not to live further on account of the same to her aunt Barnali Banerjee and the tarot card reader. The pitiable condition to which the deceased had been reduced to by the accused can scarcely be imagined." The order also stated that she was being "completely controlled" by Rahul despite living separately.
Over the years, several television industry colleagues claimed that Rahul had mistreated Pratyusha and had taken money from multiple women under the guise of producing films.
Pratyusha had also undergone an abortion two months before her death, which Rahul described as a mutual decision. After her death, he said she had a drinking problem.
He also claimed she struggled with stalled payments and fading opportunities. "Everywhere she faced issues," he said, mentioning creative disagreements on Balika Vadhu and payment delays on other sets.