Sushant Singh Rajput’s brother-in-law dismisses ‘toxic Bihari families’ comment: ‘This FIR is anti-Rhea, not anti-women’

Actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s brother-in-law Vishal Kriti has responded to a recent news article that suggested ‘toxic Bihari families’ expect their sons to be like the mythological character ‘Shravan Kumar’.

Sushant Singh Rajput case

Actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s brother-in-law, Vishal Kirti, has slammed a recent news article that called out ‘toxic Bihari families’ for putting undue pressure on their male children. Vishal said he is responding to the article as it affected not only his ‘loved ones but people from Bihar in general’.

The article commented on family dynamics in ‘cow-belt India’ and how the son is expected to be a ‘Shravan Kumar’, ie, an ideal child. “I wanted to let it go since, despite the tragedy in the family, I have to work just like many of Sushant’s other family members and after a long work-week, I was reluctant about addressing these issues,” Vishal Kirti wrote in a blog post. “But decided otherwise since I found out that this was affecting not only my loved ones but people from Bihar in general.”

Responding the author’s claims that Sushant’s family is refusing to accept the depression narrative, Vishal wrote that, to his knowledge, “mental health is an outcome of biology and the environment.” He wrote that Sushant’s girlfriend, Rhea Chakraborty, had created a ‘hostile environment’ for him, which could include ‘gaslighting, blackmailing, alienating, covert medication, overt overmedication, and so on.’ He wrote that he would accept his mistake if it is proven in a court of law that Sushant’s condition wasn’t aggravated by the environment around him.

He wrote that depression doesn’t always lead people to suicide. Defending a recent Instagram post by his wife Shweta, Sushant’s sister, in which she’d shared an image of the actor’s white board, on which he had mapped out future plans, Vishal wrote that Shweta didn’t say that Sushant wasn’t depressed. “Planning ahead is a very positive sign of hopefulness. Though it does not guarantee, it still questions the prerequisite condition of hopelessness,” he wrote.

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He also dismissed the contention that Bihari families can’t stand girlfriends. “Many people know that Sushant dated Ankita (Lokhande) for at least six years and they lived together for a good portion of that relationship. People have seen great pictures of Ankita and Sushant’s family together and almost everyone knows that some members of Sushant’s family, including my wife, are in constant touch with Ankita,” he wrote. He also wrote that even though Sushant never explicitly admitted to dating actor Kriti Sanon, he, Vishal, had met her and was very fond of her as well.

He continued, “I am from Bihar as well and my parents don’t have any toxic attitude towards my wife, who was also my girlfriend for nearly four years before I got married and we have been married for thirteen years.”

Sushant’s father, KK Singh, has filed an FIR against Rhea Chakraborty, who was dating Sushant at the time of his death, for abetting his suicide, among other allegations. Sushant’s case will be investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation. Rhea appeared for questioning at the Mumbai offices of the Enforcement Directorate earlier this week, where she was interrogated about the allegations that she siphoned money of Sushant’s bank account.