Navneet Vyasan (HINDUSTAN TIMES; August 11, 2020)

After actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s unfortunate demise, the media coverage of the case has come under severe scrutiny. And Rohit Roy also stresses that the “senseless conspiracy theories (around the case) should stop, and media shouldn’t fan them”.

Elaborating his stance, the actor says that every now and then a new villain crops up in the investigation for people to hate, and all this steers the conversation away from the actual topic — mental health.

On how such theories keep changing every day, he adds, “While one day it is, ‘Oh, this producer said so and so, therefore he (Rajput) was depressed and took this step’, the next day it changes to, ‘Another FIR was filed and another person took over a parallel investigation and we have a new villain — his girlfriend — who took his money’. And then, there are reports of her family doing black magic. And again, we might have some other story revealing another villain.”

While urging people to stop speculating around the actor’s death, Roy, 51, says the focus should remain on mental well-being. “His death started a dialogue around mental health. Please don’t stop it in today’s day and date,” the actor asserts.

Roy, who has Sanjay Gupta’s Mumbai Saga lined up and is also set to release an OTT show that he himself directed with his wife Manasi Joshi Roy, also reveals that he knew Samir Sharma and found the news of his demise deeply distressing. “As we speak, another young talent has passed away,” he says, adding, “I knew him personally. He’s somebody I’ve known for the last 15 years I think. He was a very genial and lovely guy.”