Actress Rhea Chakraborty has again expressed how the traumatic fallout of the Sushant Singh Rajput death case affected her and her family on a personal and emotional level. She spoke at an NDTV event about her experience going through public defamation, jail, and ultimately vindication after the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) clean chit in the 2020 case that rocked the country.
In June 2020, actor Sushant Singh Rajput was discovered dead at his home in Mumbai, which led to an instant and celebrity-studded investigation. The case was initially thought to be an accident, but soon gained momentum amid conspiracy theories and media chaos. Rhea, dating Sushant when he died, became the focal point of the storm, subjected to legal investigation, severe public criticism, and finally 28 days in prison. Yet after thorough investigation, the CBI concluded that there was no evidence against her or her family members, clearing her name officially of all charges.
All the same, Rhea concedes the damage had already been done. “People said he did not go because of you. I always knew I hadn’t done anything,” she explained. “But even when the clean chit came, I could not feel happy. I was only happy for my parents and their reputation. But we were no longer the same carefree family. That moment changed all of us completely, for our whole life.”
Calling it a life-changing experience, Rhea said it made her take stock of her values and relationships. “You realize everything what you had, when you were thinking there was nothing. There’s no one to take care of you in jail. But I missed my family the most,” she explained. She said prison stripped away all superficial relationships and showed who really stood by her. You understand you have only 3–4 friends in the world. The rest are not your friends.”
In times of hardship, too, Rhea went about spreading good vibes. “People requested me to dance for them. I did naagin dance on the day of my bail,” she revealed, saying she wanted to give pleasure to inmates, most of whom were women who were yet to meet justice.
Now free of the case’s shadow, Rhea continues to rebuild her life while bearing the emotional cost of the ordeal a chapter that forever altered her, but one she’s learning to rise from.
