Rhea Chakraborty Interview Controversy: Sushant's family lawyer rips apart channel's stand; scoop turns into a backlash
Rhea Chakraborty—a key accused in Sushant Singh Rajput death case—appeared on a reputed Hindi news channel on Thursday. Sushant Singh Rajput's girlfriend Rhea, who has been maintaining distance from media especially after being named in the Bihar Police FIR in the case, suddenly decided to spill the beans after her alleged Whatsapp chats with drug dealers were revealed by an English news channel.
But the way Rhea's interview was conducted by a veteran journalist, many termed the whole exercise a PR attempt, and angry reactions erupted on social media, even after the excerpts of the interview were released.
The Hindi news channel, known for its fierce reporting and in-depth analysis of news developments soon realised the pitfalls of giving celebrity status to Rhea who is a prime accused in the case, and the channel itself has revealed many shocking details against Rhea in the case.
Soon, the channel got into damage control—'we are trying to bring both sides of the story' became the punchline of the channel.
So alarmed was the channel with the soft handling and PR contours of the interview that immediately after the telecast of the interview, Vikas Singh, the lawyer of Sushant Singh Rajput's father KK Singh was connected live for his reaction. Vikas Singh was just waiting to tear apart the reputation and ethics of the channel.
"Instead of grilling the prime accused, and making an effort to get out the truth, the anchor extended celebrity status to Rhea, talked about her emotions, experiences and trauma. The family has lost the son and they are the victims. I have never seen an interview being conducted in such a fashion with a prime accused in such a crime," Vikas Singh said.
He further accused that relevant questions were not asked from Rhea, and she was not grilled for the statements she made. "She was being treated as if she had done some great social work and she was there to narrate her achievements and story. The journalism has stooped very low in the last couple of days," Vikas said.
The female anchor could only say: "We believe both sides of the story should be discussed. We have immediately come to you for your reactions after the interview," she said.
Sometimes there is no need to defend a wrong act. She simply showed her dejection by saying: Dekhate Rahiye (and then name of the channel).
There is a lot more to come in this saga of crime and deceit. Hope journalism is not the casualty in the case.
