SAANAND VERMA RIGHTLY SAYS THAT IT'S TIME TO LEAVE RHEA ALONE

Jyothi Venkatesh

It's been over three months that Sushant Singh Rajput left us. While his case is still under investigation by the CBI, the NCB arrested Rhea Chakraborty, the prime accused in his case, for drug peddling. Since Sushant's sad demise, a lot was said about the "Jalebi" actress, from money laundering to abetment to suicide, she was accused of a lot of things. She recently gained a lot of support from various Bollywood celebrities,,  who spoke against the media trial. And Saanand Verma, who has been in support of #JusticeForSSR since day one, feels that the media and fans should leave her alone as she has not been pronounced guilty yet.

The actor, who was part of SSR's "Chhichhore", feels that since the case is still under investigation, people should not have an opinion about Rhea."We can't consider one guilty until proven so or we can't say anything bad about him or her. Despite whatever happened, I think saying anything bad about Rhea or insulting her, is not good at all. The case is still under investigation, and if she is proven guilty then one can criticise her, but not before that. Please don't have an opinion about her or speculate anything about her or abuse her, because the case is still under investigation and she is not found guilty yet. So please leave her alone," he said.

When asked why he feels Sushant's case got such a strong support from the public, Saanand shared that it's because people were tired of hearing about such bizarre circumstances in which other actors died. "Be it the death of Jiah Khan, Divya Bharti or Sridevi, all these incidents have been very saddening and they were all suspicious. An honest investigation should have been done at that time. I think post Sushant's demise people were tired of these mysterious deaths. His case got such a strong support by the audience because even people wanted to know what's so evil in the industry that even a guy like Sushant died a mysterious death. When such things start happening quite often, obviously it can't be ignored, that's why people took it so seriously, and all we want is a detailed investigation and truth to be out. I think it's time that the industry got a cleansing done," he said.

Revealing that he is a SSR fan himself, the actor strongly asserted that being a fan doesn't give one the right to accuse or abuse anyone. "I have always been a fan of Sushant, and he was my inspiration. But being his fan doesn't give me the right to create troubles for someone else. That would be wrong. Trolling, bullying or torturing someone mentally is shameful. Even I am a SSR fan, and would urge others to please don't disturb anyone. The case is still under investigation, and we will know the truth very soon. All those who have committed this sin will definitely be behind bars," he said. He also urged more people to stand up for #JusticeForSSR and said they shouldn't be scared to speak up the truth. 

"I have been in favour of #JusticeForSSR campaign since day one. I have been vocal about it and even said that the crime level in the industry is rising and it's our duty to support what's right without any hesitation. Better late than never, so I am happy that there are actors who are supporting this campaign. And to the others I just want to say that they shouldn't be scared of anyone as it's our industry and we need to remove the real-life villains from here. We need more good people and we need to push more talent. It's our right to get justice for Sushant and we will do whatever is required to get it," he said.

Soon after Rhea's arrest in the drug peddling case, Kangana Ranaut said that 99 percent of Bollywood consumes drugs and even asked a few celebrities to take a test to prove their innocence. Speaking of this, the "Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain!" the actor said, "I don't like the generalisation. There might be a few but you can't blame everyone. Such statements are made to malign the image of our industry and I am not in support of