Met Sushant only twice, never asked Rhea to leave him: Mahesh Bhatt

Mumbai: Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, who was called to record his statement in the Sushant Singh Rajput suicide case on Monday, told police that he had met the deceased actor only twice in life.

"I don't support nepotism. I have given so many newcomers their first chance. I have met Sushant Singh in person only twice -- once in 2018 about my book and again in 2020," Bhatt informed the police while his statement was being recorded at the Santa Cruz Police Station in Mumbai.

Bhatt also said that he never asked actor Rhea Chakraborty to leave her boyfriend Rajput.

"I have never said anything to Rhea about leaving Sushant or anything like that. Rumours about this are baseless," he said.

Days after Rajput was found dead in his Mumbai residence on June 14, Chakraborty announced her relationship with the 'Dil Bechara' actor on a social media platform while she requested Union Home Minister Amit Shah to order a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry in the case.

The filmmaker said casting Rajput in his upcoming movie "Sadak 2" did not work due to some reasons.

"Casting Sushant in "Sadak 2" did not work out for some reason but it's not true that Sushant had asked to cast Rhea opposite him and that is why he was dropped from Sadak 2. It not true," he said.

'Sadak 2' marks Mahesh Bhatt's comeback as a director after 21 years. Apart from Alia Bhatt, the movie also features Aditya Roy Kapur, Sanjay Dutt and Pooja Bhatt in pivotal roles. Alia had earlier announced that the film 'Sadak 2' will be released on the OTT platform.

According to the police, statements of 40 people, including film critic Rajeev Masand, director-producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and filmmaker Aditya Chopra have been recorded in the investigation so far.

Among others whose statements were recorded in the case at Bandra police station are Rajput's cook Neeraj Singh, domestic help Keshav Bachner, manager Deepesh Sawant, creative manager Siddharth Ramnathmurti Pithani, sisters Neetu and Meetu Singh.

Television actor Mahesh Shetty, casting director Mukesh Chhabra, business manager Shruti Modi, PR manager Ankita Tehlani, actor Rhea Chakraborty, two former employees of Yash Raj Films, among others have also recorded their statement.