Mumbai: Deceased television actress Tunisha Sharma’s mother on Friday accused her former boyfriend and fellow actor Sheezan Khan of taking drugs on set and even slapping her daughter.
“I will not sit quiet until Sheezan is punished,” Tunisha’s mother Vanita Sharma told the media, adding her daughter had found out from Sheezan’s phone that he was cheating on her.
Vanita further said that when her daughter confronted Sheezan, he slapped her.
“I will not spare Sheezan. My daughter is gone, I’m alone now,” she said at the press conference, which was also attended by Tunisha’s uncle.
The 21-year-old actor of the ongoing show “Alibaba — Dastaan-e-Kabul” died by suicide on 24 December. She hung herself in the set’s make-up room, and her ex-boyfriend Sheezan Khan was arrested a day later.
Khan was under police custody till 30 December, but a court in Vasai extended it by another day.
Sheezan’s lawyer Shailendra Mishra told the media Friday that allegations against his client were untrue. “She is the mother and her daughter is gone… if she is putting out these allegations, our job is to cooperate with the police and we are doing so,” he said.
“The remand for one day was given because the mother said at 11 am that Tunisha was slapped… hence the court granted a day’s custody. It’s nothing more than that,” Mishra said.
‘Consumed drugs… forced her to convert’
Vanita Sharma has brought a host of charges against Sheezan while he is still in custody.
She said Tunisha confided in her that Sheezan took drugs on set, and was even forcing her to convert to Islam.
Advocate Mishra countered these charges saying there was no evidence to prove them. “A set is a public place and there are CCTVs around. Production house people were present on the set and nobody said anything on these lines. The police have not written any of this in its remand. The mother is making these allegations, but let the police say this,” Mishra said.
The mother of the deceased actor also claimed that Tunisha’s behaviour had changed and that she was acting according to Sheezan’s family’s wishes. “I will hold his family responsible for Tunisha’s changed behaviour,” she added.
Vanita said Sheezan had even forced Tunisha to wear the hijab. “The day before her suicide, I visited the sets and confronted Sheezan on why he had broken up with my daughter. He said, ‘I cannot do anything about it and you can do whatever you want.’ He should not have said that to her. She was a young girl,” the mother said.
Vanita also suspects foul play in Tunisha’s death.
“God knows what he said or did to my child. We want to know what happened in those 15 minutes. Sheezan took her from the room (it is alleged he took Tunisha to a hospital after he discovered her hanging) but did not call the ambulance. This can also be murder. I want him punished,” Vanita Sharma said.
Refuting these claims, the defence lawyer said, “These 15 minutes are just speculation. He was on shoot and she was in the room. Let the police investigate and things will be clearer.” He added that their was no shred of evidence to support Vanita’s allegations.
According to Vanita Sharma, Tunisha read Sheezan’s chats and realised he was cheating on her. “This is the reason for their break-up. She always said she was deceived. This has nothing to do with the Shraddha Walkar case,” her mother said.
It is learnt the couple had broken up 15 days before the Tunisha’s suicide. The police have recorded the statements of nearly two dozen people in connection to the TV actor’s death.
The police have also recovered nearly 250 pages of WhatsApp chats between Sheezan and Tunisha from his phone that will be further analysed.
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