Actress Swara Bhasker shocked at Rhea Chakraborty ‘witch hunt’

Bollywood actress Swara Bhasker expressed her disgust at the “shocking slander campaign” against Rhea Chakraborty, the prime accused in Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case.

Extending her support towards Chakraborty, the ‘Veere Di Wedding’ star appeared on various TV channels including NDTV slamming the media circus surrounding the actor’s death and wrote an open letter for the news magazine The Week discussing her outrage.

In the last few weeks, Bhasker has taken on the onus to throw her weight behind Chakraborty. The actress, who is now in judicial custody for charges of procuring drugs for Rajput, has been bearing the wrath of disillusioned fans, family members and Indian media.

Bhasker wrote that the controversy reminded her of the Salem witch trials.

“In recent weeks, I’ve often thought of ‘The Crucible’ as I watched the public sentiment around the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, ostensibly by suicide, turn from emotional outpouring of grief by fans into a media-fuelled hysteria and blind certitude that he was murdered,” she wrote.

Things took an uglier turn when Rajput’s father KK Singh filed an FIR against Chakraborty, accusing her of abetting his son’s suicide.

“This led to a shocking slander campaign and hysterical media trial that has practically declared Rhea to be a murderess, with no proof, based on contorted facts, rank misinformation and what are now being proven to be lies,” Bhasker wrote.

She also spoke strongly against the conspiracy theories swirling around Chakraborty.

“She has been vilified and called slanderous names by social media ecosystems and #JusticeForSushant ‘warriors’. Salacious conspiracy theories about her have done the rounds and she, her family and staff at her building have been physically hounded by shameless media personnel.”

She also pointed out that Rajput’s family aren’t being wholly transparent as they lied about not knowing about his mental health issues.

Bhasker, along with directors like Anubhav Sinha and Anurag Kashyap, have openly declared war against certain news channels for their propaganda-driven coverage of Rajput’s death.