Bollywood / Sushant's family asked me to testify against Rhea: Siddharth Pithani

MUMBAI: A close friend of actor Sushant Singh Rajput and a crucial witness in his death case, Siddharth Pithani has written to Mumbai Police alleging that he received phone calls from family members of the late actor and anonymous numbers and is allegedly being "pressured" to give a statement against Sushant's girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty.

In an email to Mumbai Police on 28th July he claimed to have received at least three phone calls from the late actor's family where according to Siddharth, they asked him to give a statement against Chakraborty about her expenses when she was with Rajput at his home.

He also alleged that family members of Sushant, including his sister Meetu Singh and relative OP Singh, called him July 22 on a conference call where another unknown number had also joined and again on July 27, a similar call was received by him asking him to give statement against Rhea. He also alleged that he is being asked to give a statement on issues he wasn't aware of.

"I received conference phone calls from the family members of Sushant Singh (Rajput). Mr OP Singh and Meetu Singh and an unknown number on July 22 and they asked me questions regarding Rhea Chakraborty and her expenses during her stay at Mount Blanc with Sushant," the e-mail read.

"I am pressurised to comply and record statements against Rhea, the things which I am not aware of," the email added.

The mail of Siddharth has also been included by Rhea in her petition in Supreme Court filed to get the Bihar FIR transferred to Mumbai.

A team of Bihar Police that arrived in Mumbai on Tuesday, recorded statements of two persons, including actor Sushant Singh Rajput's sister, on Wednesday in connection with the case.

An FIR was filed by Sushant Singh Rajput's father against actor Rhea Chakraborty in Bihar on Tuesday.

Bihar police have recorded more statements now. They recorded the statement of Ankita Lokhande and the doctor who was treating Sushant.

Rajput was found dead in his Mumbai residence on June 14.

According to the Maharashtra police, statements of 41 people, including filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, film critic Rajeev Masand, director-producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and filmmaker Aditya Chopra have been recorded in the investigation so far.