Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death on 14 June shocked people across the country and ever since, it seems to have become a major news story with new 'details' unfolding every day.
However, over the past month, Indian media outlets have been receiving flak for their coverage of the events unfolding in the aftermath of Sushant's death.
For example, on 30 July, a Twitter user shared a photo of the news channel Aaj Tak accusing Rhea Chakraborty, Sushant's former girlfriend, of doing "kaala jaadu (black magic)" on him. On 28 July, Sushant's father filed an FIR against Chakraborty under various sections, including abetment of suicide.
Netizens were quick to react on how the narrative being propagated by Aaj Tak was incorrect, immoral and damaging.
One user even pointed out how it was illegal.
Another wrote - "It isn't just black magic. There are haunted houses involved as well. Hard to build a strong court case on these grounds."
Rajdeep Sardesai tweeted, "This is beyond amusing: it’s bizarre. all this while ‘noise’ channels created a TRP driven ‘insider’ Vs ‘outsider’ narrative for Sushant suicide. Now, it’s shifted to ‘gold-digger’ girlfriend! We might as well turn our studios into courtrooms where we prosecute without evidence!"
Many Twitter users also raised concerns about whether such news was worth prime time.
Twitter user Gaurav Simha tweeted that this is "quite an attempt by the media in service of the government to divert attention from the COVID fiasco in India."
Does Sushant deserve this? Twitter users ask
Another mainstream news outlet shared an "undated and unverified" video of Rhea Chakraborty on 31 July. The channel claims that Rhea can be heard calling Sushant a "goon" in the video.
A Twitter user pointed out how such unverified news only adds to the rampant problem of fake news.
In a snippet released by media outlet Republic, actor Ankita Lokhande tells Arnab Goswami that Sushant could not have been depressed as he was a "passionate" person and loved his work.
Here's how one particular netizen reacted:
Sushant Singh Rajput died of suicide at his Mumbai residence on 14 June.
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