Sushant Singh Rajput suicide case: Mahesh Bhatt to record his statement
Mumbai: Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt will record his statement with the Mumbai Police in the next couple of days in connection with actor Sushant Singh Rajput's suicide case, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said on Sunday.
Besides him, producer-director Karan Johar's manager has been called to record the statement and if needed, Johar himself will be asked to do so, the minister said.
"Mahesh Bhatt will record his statement in a day or two," Deshmukh told reporters.
The police are investigating allegations that professional rivalry, besides clinical depression, drove the actor to suicide.
"Summons have also been sent to actor Kangana Ranaut, asking her to record her statement," the minister said.
After Rajput's suicide at his apartment in Mumbai last month, Ranaut had lashed out at nepotism and cartels in Bollywood, alleging that he was its victim.
According to police, Ranaut is currently in Manali.
Deshmukh said that police have so far recorded statements of 37 people in connection with the case.
They include director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, filmmaker, and Yash Raj Films (YRF) chairman Aditya Chopra and film critic Rajeev Masand.
The "Chhichore" actor, 34, was found hanging at his apartment in Mumbai on June 14.
Rajput starred in films such as "Shuddh Desi Romance", "Raabta", "Kedarnath" and "Sonchiriya". But his most prominent role came as cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the biopic- "MS Dhoni: The Untold Story".
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Jai Bhim: Slogan that energised Dalits was first given at this central Maharashtra village
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (PTI): 'Jai Bhim': These two words have come to symbolise the awakening and empowerment of the Dalit community in independent India, but not many people know how it originated.
The slogan, which also encapsulates the immense reverence in which Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar is held, was first raised at the Makranpur Parishad, a conference organised at Makranpur village in Kannad teshil of today's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district in Maharashtra.
Ambedkar, the chief architect of India's Constitution, died on December 6, 1956.
Bhausaheb More, the first president of the Scheduled Castes Federation of Marathwada, organised the first Makranpur Parishad on December 30, 1938.
Dr Ambedkar spoke at the conference and asked the people not to support the princely state of Hyderabad under which much of central Maharashtra then fell, said Assistant Commissioner of Police Pravin More, Bhausaheb's son.
"When Bhausaheb stood up to speak, he said every community has its own deity and they greet each other using the name of that deity. Dr Ambedkar showed us the path of progress, and he is like God to us. So henceforth, we should say 'Jai Bhim' while meeting each other. The people responded enthusiastically. A resolution accepting 'Jai Bhim' as the community's slogan was also passed," More told PTI.
"My father came in contact with Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar in his early years. Bhausaheb was aware of the atrocities the Nizam state committed on Dalits. He told Ambedkar about these atrocities, including the pressure to convert. Dr Ambedkar was strongly against these atrocities, and he decided to attend the 1938 conference," he said.
As Ambedkar was against the princely states, he was banned from giving speeches in the Hyderabad state but was allowed to travel through its territories. The Shivna river formed the border between Hyderabad and British India. Makranpur was chosen as the venue for the first conference because it was on the banks of Shivna but lay in the British territory, ACP More said.
The stage made of bricks, from where Dr Ambedkar addressed the conference, still stands. The conference is organised on December 30 every year to carry forward Ambedkar's thought, and the tradition was not discontinued even in 1972 when Maharashtra experienced one of the worst droughts in it history.
"My grandmother pledged her jewellery for the conference expenses. People from Khandesh, Vidarbha and Marathwada attended it. Despite a ban imposed by the Nizam's police, Ambedkar's followers crossed the river to attend the event," said ACP More.
"This is the 87th year of Makranpur Parishad. We have deliberately retained the venue as it helps spread Ambedkar's thought in rural areas," he added.
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