Splitsvilla 9 contestant and actor Aditya Singh Rajput’s sudden death has shocked his friends and colleagues from the industry. The 32-year-old, who had collapsed in the bathroom of his Andheri residence on Monday, was rushed to a hospital where he was declared dead. Soon after that, rumours started doing the rounds that he had passed away due to a drug overdose, which has upset his friends.

Actress Subuhii Joshi, who has known him since his Splitsvilla days, said, “How can people just assume that it was a drug overdose? I am among his closest friends, and I can say that he wasn’t into any kind of substance abuse. He was unwell and fainted in the bathroom and hurt his head.”

She added, “We would talk very often, and he sent me a good morning message around 11 am. And then I got a call from a mutual friend at around 2.30 pm informing me about this, and I was shocked and rushed to his place.”

Senior Police Inspector of Oshiwara police station, Mohan Patil, said, “Aditya was unwell for the past 3-4 days and had a cold and cough. The domestic help said that he woke up at around 11 am and had his breakfast as usual, but he threw up. At around 2 pm, he had lunch. Half an hour later, he went to the bathroom, and there was a loud noise. He had fainted there. A few tiles were broken in the bathroom, and he had hurt himself near his head and behind his ears. She called the watchman for help, to pick him up and put him on the bed. They informed the police and took him to the hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival.”

Mumbai: Actor Aditya Singh Rajput, who died after falling in the bathroom of his Andheri apartment on Monday, had spoken to his mother Usha, over the phone minutes before the incident. Usha said he had not mentioned his ill health. She was also enraged by speculative news reports online that had mentioned a drug overdose to be the reason for her son’s death.

An autopsy was carried out at the Siddharth Hospital’s postmortem centre on Tuesday, and the cause of death has been kept pending for forensic analysis. The autopsy was carried out by four doctors from the Cooper Hospital’s postmortem centre and was videographed.

Usha said she had called Aditya around 2:15pm on Monday. She told him that their previous chats on WhatsApp had got deleted and he should ping her as she isn’t well-versed with the messaging application. Aditya then sent her a message “Mumma” followed by a heart emoji. Around 2:25pm, Aditya also sent her a voice note about certain issues with the messaging app.

“That was the last time I heard from him. The next call came later in the day from one of his friends about the incident,” she said, adding that she was numb with shock and couldn’t find the strength to pack a suitcase and book an air ticket to travel to Mumbai. She had to ask a neighbour for help.

A retired government servant, Usha lives alone in Delhi. Her husband, a Delhi high court advocate, passed away 11 years ago. Aditya’s sister lives in the US and will arrive in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Usha said she had received numerous calls from acquaintances after online news reports mentioned that a drug overdose was the reason for his death. “This is not true at all. The news portals must retract such incorrect stories and stop defaming my son,” she said.