A day after upcoming Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput hanged himself, the police have started an all-encompassing probe into the suicide from various angles, even as his last rites were performed on Monday.
Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh reiterated the police version that that the autopsy report has confirmed that Rajput committed suicide by hanging himself.
"However, there are media reports that he allegedly suffered from clinical depression because of professional rivalry. Mumbai Police will probe this angle too," Deshmukh said.
Meanwhile, Sushant Singh Rajput's sudden demise has left his upcoming and last film "Dil Bechara" co-star Sanjana Sanghi shattered.
Taking to Instagram, the rising actress posted a video in which she is seen recalling her moments spent with Sushant on the sets of the film, and how he had always encouraged and motivated her to achieve big in life, and do something for India's education system.
"You gave me a forever, within a limited number of days, and for that I'm forever grateful. Our beloved novel, The Fault In Our Stars. A forever of learnings, and of memories. I refreshed my web pages a 100 times hoping I'm reading some sort of horrible joke. I'm not equipped to process any of this. I don't think I ever will be. I'm definitely not equipped to articulate my feelings, this is me failing, but trying. We were to save all our anecdotes and stories from the time we spent shooting together up until the release of our film, so we kept them in our stomachs till now," Sanjana wrote.
While remembering Sushant, Sanjana got teary-eyed in the video.
Late on Sunday, an autopsy was conducted on his body at the Dr. R.N. Cooper Municipal General Hospital, the report of which was received on Monday.
"The provision post-mortem report has cited asphyxia as the cause of death," Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abhishek Trimukhe, told mediapersons, even as the police tentatively ruled out any possibility of a foul play.
The police have also quizzed Rajput's friends Rhea Chakravarty and Mahesh Shetty on the incident, and some more persons are likely to be queried, sources said.
"As we are all deeply pained and shocked to hear about Sushant Singh Rajput's untimely demise, so is Mahesh Shetty. He has lost a brother, a very dear friend and is still coming to terms with the shock and reality and is completely heartbroken. We, his team, request the media and all of you, on his behalf, to please give him some privacy and let him grieve for his loss," said Shetty's team in a social media post.
Police ask media to move away near the actor’s residence in Mumbai. AFP
As part of the probe, separate teams from the Bandra Police Station, the Crime Branch-CID and the Forensic Department visited Rajput's Bandra flat.
Earlier on Monday morning, Rajput's family reached Mumbai from Patna, visited his home in Bandra and later claimed his body.
It was subsequently taken for the funeral at the Vile Parle Crematorium amid heavy rains with a large number of mediapersons, police and a few fans present.
It may be recalled that on Sunday, Rajput, 34, ended his life by hanging himself in the bedroom of his home and was found by his domestic help who alerted the police.
As the news of the suicide spread, Bollywood and thousands of his fans were plunged into grief amid widespread speculation of the reasons hurtling him to resort to the ultimate step.