Vishal Kirti, brother-in-law of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput, has discredited the theory that the actor was not close to his family, and has narrated several instances to support his claim.

Vishal took to his blog to respond to Sushant's girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty's claims that the actor had strained relationships with his family. The blog piece was titled: "Five times my wife left me behind in America to be with her brother".

He recalled the time when his wife Shweta left him in the US to visit her brother in India, and said that it hurts him when aspersions are cast on a wonderful family like Sushant's.

"It sounds like I am complaining that she left me behind but I am not. This is an appreciation of the strength of the Singh Rajput family bond I have seen over the years," he began.

Vishal went on to mention incidents from 2014 to one in June 2020.

"In 2014, we were slated to visit India over the summer break. However, Shweta got to know that a family function was being organised to celebrate Rani Didi and Jiju's wedding anniversary and Sushant would be attending as well. She canceled her summer ticket and rushed to India at short notice. I joined her next month in June with my daughter and spent some quality time with Sushant as well," he wrote.

He continued: "In 2015, Shweta left with our son and visited Sushant in Ranchi where he was shooting for the movie MS Dhoni."

"In 2016, it was decided that the entire Singh Rajput family would watch the movie MS Dhoni together. Again at very short notice, Shweta made a 3-day trip from the US to India, just to watch the movie together as a family and celebrate Sushant's success. She spent 2-days flying and 3-days in India with the entire family. Can you imagine the jetlag?" he added.

Another instance was in 2017 when Shweta "thankfully, didn't leave me behind this time around and we all got to hang out with Sushant!"

The most recent incident happened in January, 2020.

"In January 2020, she left without me again at short notice after being informed that Sushant is visiting Chandigarh. Alas, he was under such circumstances that she didn't even get to meet him and by now everyone knows why," he said, adding: "And finally, during COVID times, she rushed as soon as logistically possible to India after the news on June 14th, to give a loving sendoff to her precious brother."

Vishal went on to share: "It's sad that she won't be making such trips anymore (the happy ones, prior to 2019) because the shining star of the family is gone. It hurts me when aspersions are cast on a wonderful family like Sushant's."

"My wife is a married professional businesswoman living in the US with two kids (it's a very busy lifestyle) but she prioritised to be with her family when the family needed her, despite all the limitations. Such is the Singh Rajput family," he added.

He ended the piece with a note: "PS: Those who don't live in the US running 2 businesses with a working professional spouse and 2 kids, don't try to undermine the effort because you won't understand the challenges of setting everything aside at short notice, to travel to India to meet an extremely busy movie actor".

"The emphasis here is on trips without me to meet Sushant. There were countless logistical issues between our children's school schedules, my office schedule, Shweta's business schedules and all this overlapping with Sushant's availability when he was drowning in work. That's why these short notice trips were made to align with Sushant's availability," he concluded.