Rhea Chakraborty and Sushant Singh Rajput knew each other for several years and occasionally interacted, until they hit it off at a party in April 2019 and began dating soon after. The couple moved in together in December 2019. On 8 June’20, Chakraborty moved into her parents’ house as she was suffering from anxiety attacks. Rajput, too, was in a bad place, according to the statement. A few days later, on 14 June’20, Rajput died by suicide.
HuffPost India spoke to three of Chakraborty’s friends, all of whom requested anonymity as they feared being subjected to online trolling and in the media for speaking up for her. While A was a common friend of both Sushant and Chakraborty independently and eventually became a close friend of the couple’s, B and C count themselves amongst Chakraborty’s inner circle, having known her since her early days in the industry.
To them, Chakraborty is a sensitive, caring young woman who found herself as one half of a young couple struggling to withstand the soul-crushing demands of the Mumbai film industry, a partner navigating the stress and anxieties of Rajput’s mental health diagnosis. Once Rajput was diagnosed as being bipolar, the friends said, he was convinced that the diagnosis, if made public, could end his career as a bankable star.
“When we first met them as a couple at a common friend’s house, everybody was taken by how quickly they had fallen for each other. We were all happy,” another friend, C, recalled. “This was their honeymoon period so instead of guilt-tripping them for not hanging out with us more often, we just let them be.”
In July 2019, not long after the trip to Pawna Lake, Chakraborty introduced Rajput to her family. They went out for dinner to the Army Officers Institute in Juhu (Chakraborty’s father is a retired army officer) and Rajput took an instant liking towards them, according to A, who was present at the dinner.
“He kept saying that he’s going to get better first and then resume work. A result of this was that both were meeting fewer people,” A, a friend of the couple, said.
In June 2020, Chakraborty made a public statement after Rajput’s death, “Sushant had been calling his family, informing them of his decision to move out of Mumbai and requesting them to come meet him.”
Rhea Chakraborty has been the prime accused in the case filed by the late actor’s father wherein he alleged that 15 crores have been siphoned off from his account and abetment to suicide.
Meanwhile, the case has been taken over by the CBI after the mandate of apex court. According to media reports, Rhea Chakraborty can be soon summoned by the CBI.
