Actor Tunisha Sharma allegedly died by suicide on the sets
The sisters of actor Sheezan Khan, who has been arrested for alleged abetment to suicide over the death of co-actor Tunisha Sharma, have appealed for "family privacy".
In a statement, the actor's sisters - Shafaq Naaz and Falaq Naaz - and their family said, "It's upsetting to see the members of the media constantly calling us and even standing below our apartment buildings."
"To everyone who's been trying to reach out to us for a statement on the case - please allow our family privacy in this grave situation...We have full faith in the Indian judiciary system, and Sheezan is cooperating with the Mumbai Police through all the procedures," the family said in the statement.
"We will talk about this when the time is right, but for now, please allow us the privacy which our family deserves right now," Sheezan Khan's family said.
Sheezan Khan has claimed that Tunisha Sharma tried to die by suicide a few days before she was found hanging on the sets.
"Tunisha had recently tried to commit suicide a few days before her death, but at that time I saved her and told Tunisha's mother to take special care of her," a police source quoting Sheezan Khan told news agency ANI.
Tunisha Sharma's uncle, Pawan Sharma, today, however, told NDTV that she came to know Sheezan Khan has been going around with other women, which put her in a lot of stress. "Both ate at the makeup room. No one knows what happened after that. We got a call asking us to come," Pawan Sharma told NDTV.
He denied Sheezan Khan's claim that Tunisha Sharma tried to die by suicide in the two weeks before she was found dead on the sets.
"Never, never. She never tried to commit suicide," her uncle told NDTV. "She was in a lot of stress. That's why her mother was worried about her," Pawan Sharma said.
The actor told the police he broke up with Tunisha Sharma after he was "so disturbed by the atmosphere in the country that emerged after the gruesome murder of Shraddha Walkar" allegedly by her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala, ANI reported.
Rightwing groups have alleged 'love jihad', or Muslim men luring Hindu women to convert, in the macabre Shraddha Walkar murder case.
The police are now investigating the reason behind her alleged suicide. They have recorded statements from her mother Vanita Sharma and her uncle.