Sushant Case Saga: Murkier events unfolded in actor's death case; timeline of 80 days
On 14th June a tragic news sent all Sushant Singh Rajput's fans in despair when they got to know that the actor is no more. On the afternoon the actor was found hanging from the ceiling fan of his room in his Bandra flat. Till now his fans have not been able to come to its term and are not ready to accept that the actor is no more. The actor who made his debut in Bollywood with Kai Po Che left for his heavenly abode after mesmerizing his fans by starring in some amazing films such as MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, Chhichhore, Sonchiraiya and PK.
As soon as this news escalated within days, many layers of his life started peeling off in front of the public. What was initially seen as a case of fragile mental health soon started witnessing many theories. The Mumbai Police began investigating the case, but the fans demanded the CBI inquiry.
A lot has happened since then. Here’s a timeline of the events to track how the case changed since the actor's death.
Shocking Demise
June 14: Sushant Singh Rajput's body was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his room at his Bandra flat on Sunday afternoon.
June 15: Sushant's brother-in-law O.P. Singh, who is the Additional Director General of Police and posted as Special Officer in the Haryana Chief Minister's Office, suspected some foul play in the crime. He sought a thorough probe into the incident.
Netizens echo Nepotism
June 15: Reports of a late actor suffering from depression started doing rounds on all social media platforms. Reacting on the same Kangana Ranaut took to her social media handle and refused to label Sushant as a "mentally weak" person. She said his deserving films and work were never acknowledged at award ceremonies.
From here angle of "nepotism", "outsider v/s insider" started doing rounds. Netizens started slamming Karan Johar for favouring star kids and sabotaging Sushant's career. They in a union called to boycott films starring star kids, following which Alia Bhatt, Sanjay Dutt, Aditya Roy Kapur and Pooja Bhatt starrer Sadak 2 received the worst rating on IMDb.
Also Read: 'Karan is in no condition to speak': KJO's friend reveals shocking thing about filmmaker
Postmortem report reveals
June 24: Mumbai Police who were probing SSR's death case received the final postmortem report signed by a team of five doctors. "No struggle marks or external injuries" were found in or on the actor's body, suggests his postmortem report.
July 4: Sushant’s father KK Singh demanded CBI inquiry.
Ex-Girlfriend Ankita Lokhande v/s Rhea Chakraborty
July 14: For the first time since Sushant's death, Rhea took to her Instagram handle and expressed her state of mind and emotions through a heartwarming note. [Here Read Full Story]
July 14: For the first time since Sushant's death, Ankita took to her Instagram handle and posted an image of Diya. She captioned the image as, "CHILD Of GOD"
August 27: Rhea claimed that Sushant had claustrophobia, however, the moment she made this statement, Ankita Lokhande, refuted and took to her Instagram handle to share a post wherein we can see Sushant flying an aeroplane.
August 28: Ankita Lokhande once again hit back at Rhea's claim that SSR was suffering from depression since 2013. She posted a detailed statement on her Instagram handle
August 30: Rhea accused Ankita of financially exploiting the late actor when they weren't even in touch for 4 years. She said that Sushant was paying the EMI for Ankita's flat. Rhea claimed that Ankita showed only one part of the story when she shared her bank transactions. She claimed the full story is that while Ankita paid Rs 1 crore for the flat, Sushant paid the rest Rs 3-4 crore.
She further went on to talk about how Ankita is conveniently treating herself as Sushant's 'vidhwa' while being engaged to another man.
Also Read: Vidya Balan slams 'media trials' against Rhea in connection with Sushant Singh Rajput death case
Rhea's contradicting statement
July 16: Rhea Chakraborty requested Home Minister Amit Shah for a CBI enquiry into Sushant's death case.
July 29: Sushant’s father KK Singh filed an FIR in the Rajiv Nagar police station in Patna accusing six people, including actress Rhea Chakraborty, for abetment to suicide and money laundering case.
July 29: As soon as Rhea learnt about an FIR lodged against her by late actor's father she moved the Supreme Court seeking transfer of the investigation to Mumbai.
August 4: The Bihar government recommended CBI inquiry into the death case.
August 7: Rhea Chakraborty in a statement said that a CBI investigation at this point would be "totally illegal and beyond any known legal principles, affecting the Federal Structure of the Nation". [Here Read Full Story]
6-page long complaint against Rhea
July 29: Sushant’s father KK Singh filed an FIR in the Rajiv Nagar police station in Patna accusing six people, including actress Rhea Chakraborty, for abetment to suicide.
July 30: On learning 15 crore allegation against Rhea, ED swung into action, seeking details of the case from the Bihar police.
July 31: In a major development, the Enforcement Directorate filed a case of money laundering over transactions worth Rs 15 crore related to the alleged suicide of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
July 31: In a video, actress Rhea Chakraborty addressed the allegations against her over the death of Sushant false and said that truth shall prevail.
Is Sushant's death connected with Disha Salian' suicide?
After SSR's death rumours started circulating on social media that Disha's suicide has some connection with Sushant's suicide. As per social media reports, it was said that SSR's ex-manager was pregnant with Sooraj Pancholi's child. She committed suicide after Sooraj threatened her to abort the baby and SSR who had a scuffle with Hero actor in 2017 reportedly was aware of it and was about to expose him. [Here Read Full Story]
Political Warfare
August 1: Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray slammed the demands for a CBI probe by the Opposition and some Bollywood personalities.
August 1: Same day Sushant’s sister Shweta Singh Kirti penned an open letter to PM Narendra Modi, requesting him to intervene in the case.
August 4: The Bihar government recommended CBI inquiry into the death case.
August 19: The Supreme Court ordered CBI inquiry into Sushant Singh Rajput Death case.
Major turn after CBI probe
August 19: The SC ordered CBI inquiry into Sushant Singh Rajput Death case.
August 21: CBI starts with the investigation, summons friend Siddharth Pithani, cook Neeraj, Keshav and housekeeper Dipesh Sawant.
August 26: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) registered an NDPS case against Rhea and two others based on an ED request to probe the drug angle in the Sushant death case.
September 2: As per India Today reports, three CBI officials, who are part of the probe, stated that their team has so far not found any evidence that suggests Sushant was murdered on June 14. So now they are probing the case from a new angle i.e suicide. [Here Read Full Story]
First published: 2 September 2020, 16:29 IST