The family of Sushant Singh Rajput has asserted that the actor was murdered, and alleged that they are getting threats as they continue their fight for justice.
The family has also criticised the ongoing campaign to slander their reputation, in a nine-page open letter. The letter, written in Hindi, comes after an editorial written by Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut in the party's mouthpiece Saamna, where he questioned the relationship between the actor and his family.
The family began the statement with a couplet from Firaq Jalalpuri, which read:
"Tu idhar udhar ki na baat kar
Ye bata ki qafila kyun luta,
Mujhe rahzanon se gila nahin
Teri rahbari ka sawal hai"
The letter starts by pointing out how crores of people are disturbed after "Sushant's murder", and how his family is being attacked from all quarters. It also pointed out that many people are taking advantage of the tragedy for vested gains and fame. This was the reason they decided to pen the open letter to narrate what it means to be Sushant's family.
It talks about how they shifted from a village to a city so that the children could excel in their lives.
Talking about Sushant and his sisters, the letter said: "The first daughter had magic, someone came and took her away to the land of angels. The second one played for the national cricket team, the third studied law and the fourth daughter did a diploma in fashion designing. The fifth one was Sushant, the sort who is a ‘mannat' for mothers. Their entire life, Sushant's family did not take anything from anyone, neither did they harm anyone."
On his untimely death, the letter said: "People only dream about what happened in the last 8-10 years. But what happened today, should not even happen to an enemy."
The letter goes on to take a swipe at the relatives who have been giving statements to the media claiming they were close to the actor.
The letter did not mention Sushant's girlfriend, actress Rhea Chakraborty, but said that Sushant was ‘brutally murdered' and that ‘crooks trapped' him. It went on to question how expensive lawyers are being hired in the case, wondering if they will ‘murder' justice -- indicating the high-profile lawyer hired by Rhea.
The family said they were not even given time to mourn his death, with stories surfacing that he is mentally imbalanced, and photographs of his dead body going viral.
It termed the investigation by Mumbai Police as ‘only for optics', saying that they only tried to implicate a "few rich privileged people". They also questioned why no steps were taken when the family approached them to take preventive action.
The family said that the four sisters and the father are getting threats as a consequence of their fight for justice, and face everyday character assassination that blots the memory of Sushant.
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