Sushant Singh Rajput's family accused Rhea Chakraborty of abetment to suicide
A week after Bihar Police chief's controversial "aukat (stature)" comment, actor Rhea Chakraborty has hit out at those making allegations against her without evidence. The Bihar Police chief had declared that Ms Chakraborty "does not have the aukat (stature)" to comment on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, on the day the Supreme Court ruled that the CBI can take over the probe in the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
"Just because I was his girlfriend and less successful, makes me a gold-digger? 'Bengali girls do black magic', 'uski aukat kya hain (what's her stature)', always the girlfriend and bahus (daughters-in-law) are blamed. I thought we have moved past this. Me being a Bengali is a cherry on the cake - that all Bengali women do black magic," Ms Chakraborty said.
"My aukat is that Sushant Singh Rajput, who everyone claims to love, loved me," Ms Chakraborty told NDTV in a live interview.
Mr Rajput, 34, was found dead in his Mumbai apartment on June 14. More than a month later, his father KK Singh filed a case in Bihar, accusing Ms Chakraborty and her family of cheating him financially and mentally harassing him, driving him to suicide.
"I don't seem to understand why I am at the centre of this case. Maybe because of the witch hunt mentality, because the family has made these allegations. Never thought the world could be so sick. Never knew people cannot see through the false stuff. Made my life a soap opera and everyone is judge and jury," Ms Chakraborty said.
Criticised for his "aukat" comment targeting Ms Chakraborty, the Bihar Police chief on August 20 said he meant that as an accused in the Sushant Singh Rajput case, she had no right to criticise Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Gupteshwar Pandey, the Bihar Director General of Police, had been called out on social media for using words that were seen to be toxic and misogynistic. He ended up repeating the statement.
"The meaning of aukat in English is stature. Rhea Chakraborty does not have the stature to comment on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. She shouldn't forget that she is named an accused in the FIR in the Sushant Singh Rajput case which was under me and now with CBI," Mr Pandey told news agency ANI last week.
"If a political leader comments on Bihar CM (Chief Minister), then I am nobody to comment over it. But if an accused makes some baseless comment on Bihar CM then it is objectionable. She should fight the battle legally," he said.