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MUMBAI – The disappearance of a young movie star has paralyzed India like no other news story in a year of bad headlines.
The abrupt death of Sushant Singh Rajput has sparked debate over the stigma of mental health, the rarefied privileged world of Bollywood and, more recently, condemnation by the media for the continued coverage of the grieving allegations between the Rajput family and his girlfriend. .
Mumbai police initially reported that Rajput’s death was accidental and was branded a suicide by local media. But the federal police agency is now investigating whether there was any foul play and is questioning Rajput’s girlfriend, Rhea Chakraborty, and others.
On Tuesday, Chakraborty was arrested by India’s narcotics department, which is investigating a drug case related to the investigation of the Rajput’s death. She denies wrongdoing and her lawyer, Satish Maneshinde, called the arrest “a parody of justice.”
Along the way, the story has become a media obsession in India, fueled by a wave of television coverage that continues to grow nearly three months after the 34-year-old Rajput was found dead in his Mumbai apartment.
In recent weeks, Indian TV channels have spent more airtime on the Rajput case than on the growing number of Covid-19 cases, a plane crash and India’s top political stories, according to the Broadcast Audience Research Council. .
India’s bustling television networks, which include more than 350 news channels in English and several local languages, showed photos of the Rajput’s body, analyzed his medical prescriptions, even used voodoo dolls and graphics of a skull to exaggerate the allegations. that “black magic” was performed. about the actor.
Federal police, the Mumbai High Court and the Indian Press Council, a government watchdog, have criticized coverage of the investigation.
“I spent 21 years on television and I have never seen such a deep career,” said Nidhi Razdan, who recently left the Indian news network NDTV to teach journalism.
“It is a media judgment. What else is it? she said. “I have not seen this kind of cruelty in coverage before.”
‘Nauseating’
Before his death on June 14, the Rajputs, most famous for playing India’s cricket captain in a biopic, and his girlfriend were more likely to be depicted as a down-to-earth yet beautiful Bollywood couple. , cuddling and tousled hair at home or playfully sitting in jeans on a rickety park bench.
Chakraborty, 28, was regularly harassed by reporters when she appeared in public, with news commentators weighing on her innocence or guilt.
The Rajput family claims that she poisoned him, used black magic and is responsible for his death.
“There has been a conspiracy to break me, my family and my spirit,” Chakraborty said in an interview with television host Rajdeep Sardesai in late August. “It is the systematic breakdown of an innocent family, an innocent girl who loved an innocent boy.”
On Sunday, a group of journalists pushed her as she tried to enter the narcotics department’s office in Mumbai, where police struggled to disperse the crowd.
[[nid:491965]]“Disgusting,” wrote journalist Swati Chaturvedi on Twitter. Alaka Sahani, a senior reporter for Indian Express, said: “The images of Rhea being chased make my stomach turn and throw up.”
The CBI, the federal police agency, said last month that it was investigating allegations of aiding in suicide and criminal conspiracy. His announcement came after requests from the Rajput and Chakraborty family.
In a statement last week, the CBI said some media reports of its investigation were “speculative” and “not credible.” The office, he said, “has not shared any details of the investigation with the media.”
The Press Council of India has urged the media not to “conduct their own parallel trial.”
Some television publishers have defended the coverage.
Arnab Goswami, Republic TV editor and widely viewed host known for his blunt comments, credited his channel’s coverage last week with claiming that the Rajput’s death was not “whitewashed” as suicide.
“I pushed, I pushed, I connected the dots,” he told the OpIndia news website. “In the process, if I’ve done a means test, I’m happy I did one.”
Goswami did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters. Her main show, The Debate, was featured last week with the hashtag #ArrestRheaNext.
Shortly after her arrest on Tuesday, the channel began using the hashtag #RheaArrested.
