Two weddings, a career comeback, and many broken hearts. On the second death anniversary of Sushant Singh Rajput, here’s looking at some of the people who became household names in the aftermath of his death, and what they’re doing now.
June 14th marks the second death anniversary of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, who died at the age of 34 in 2020. He was found hanging in the bedroom of his Mumbai apartment, and his death was initially ruled a suicide.
But a political turf war and public pressure led to a CBI probe being launched into the case, which remains under investigation. The media coverage of Sushant’s death, which happened during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, has often been cited as an example of how poorly news reporting can be conducted in the country. When interest was at its peak, nightly debates would be conducted on primetime news. Several angles were introduced, including a drugs-related investigation that led to the arrest of Sushant’s girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty and her brother, Showik. Rhea was also investigated for misappropriation of funds, after being involved in legal proceedings against Sushant’s family.
But the discussion that Sushant’s death didn’t properly start was the one about mental health. The actor was reportedly seeking treatment for bipolar disorder, and was on medication on and off. Two years on, here’s a look at the major players in the case, and what they’re doing now.The actor spent nearly a month in jail, before being granted bail. After initially finding herself at the centre of a media circus, she slowly started re-emerging in public. She’d be sighted by the paparazzi, and would attend industry functions. There was, however, some controversy surrounding her absence from early promotional material of her latest film, Chehre. She subsequently attended Farhan Akhtar and Shibani Dandekar’s wedding earlier this year. More recently, it was reported that she had decided not to travel to Abu Dhabi to attend the IIFA awards, after being granted permission from the court to do so.Rhea’s brother was also arrested by the CBI, and was granted bail some time after her. His Instagram DP remains a photo of him and Sushant together, and his last Sushant-related post came on the first anniversary of the actor’s death. His Instagram profile has since been updated with travel pictures, and family pictures.A part of Sushant’s inner circle, Siddharth Pithani was the one who discovered Sushant’s body. He subsequently appeared on several TV news debates in the immediate aftermath of the incident, and was arrested by the NCB in the drugs-related angle to the case. As of May 2022, he hasn’t been granted bail. “We requested bail in January but the hearing has yet to take place in court,” his lawyer Taraq Sayyed told ETimes last month. He was, however, granted permission to attend his wedding in 2021, and surrendered himself a fortnight later.
