Like his other friends, Sidharth Shukla’s sudden death came as an absolute shocker for Shefali Jariwala, who says she is still in disbelief. “The passing of a friend and something that we did not expect at all has been difficult for me. It has been a shocker and it still hasn’t sunk in actually,” she admits.

Shukla’s untimely death has also been a rude shock to his rumoured girlfriend, Shehnaaz Gill. “Shehnaaz is a strong woman. She will get through it,” says Jariwala, who participated with both Gill and Shukla on a reality show.

“Even Sidharth’s mother and his sisters are really strong. Normally, a mother would be inconsolable, but she was holding it together. They all have each other and they will get through it. I just pray that they have the strength to cope with this loss,” the actor hopes.

Jariwala, who had earlier dated Shukla, was angry to see how people were hounding his family and Gill.

“At the funeral, it was a circus. I was so angry to see the way people hounded Shehnaaz. It was not right. Shehnaaz and his mother and sisters are grieving. You have to give them the space and privacy to do so. Sidharth was a very private person, as so is his mother; making such a spectacle of his passing was really disturbing to see. It is not something that he would have wanted,” says the 38-year-old.

Along with Jariwala, other participants of the reality show were also present to support Shukla’s family, including Asim Riaz and Rashami Desai.