Mumbai:
The media should not risk lives, including their own, while pursuing the cars of actors questioned in a drug case related to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, Mumbai police said in a strict warning on Saturday.
The media vehicles will be impounded and strict action will also be taken against the driver, police said, as the media frenzy over the case continues to mount every day.
Reporters attempted to chase the cars of actors Deepika Padukone, Shraddha Kapoor and Sara Ali Khan after they left their homes to be questioned by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). They were trying to get pictures, videos, and get questions answered.
Sangram Singh Nishandar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone-I), said media vehicles will be impounded if they are found endangering the lives of others while pursuing the actors’ cars. He asked them to refrain from a persecution.
“Today we have observed many media vehicles chasing people who were summoned for the investigation. The vehicles will be seized because they endanger their lives, as well as the lives of those who were called and ordinary people,” said Nishandar to the ANI news agency.
There was a trail of media vehicles following the three actors on Saturday after they left their home for questioning by the central agency. While Deepika Padukone and Shraddha Kapoor managed to evade the media vehicles, Sara Ali Khan was closely followed.
However, Ms. Padukone was followed by reporters after her questioning concluded almost six hours later.
Earlier this month, actress Rhea Chakraborty, the Rajput’s girlfriend, was harassed by a horde of mediators as she left the NCB office after being questioned.
This was met with immense criticism across the board as reporters defied social distancing rules amid a deadly coronavirus pandemic to obtain a quick statement or photographs of the actor who was seen struggling to make his way through the massive crowd.
Several people have been called in for questioning in a drug investigation related to the Rajput’s death. He was found dead in his flat in Mumbai on June 14.
with inputs from ANI, PTI
.