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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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
