MUMBAI: Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput was found hanging at his Bandra apartment on Sunday, police said. He was 34.
Reportedly, Sushant was suffering from depression for the last few months. He was under medication for the same.
Rajput’s last big-screen release was Rajkumar Hirani’s “Chhichhore”.
“He has committed suicide at his residence in Bandra. Our team is there,” Manoj Sharma, additional commissioner of police, Western Region, told PTI.
Sources from the Bandra Police said on the basis of primary information, a case of accidental death report will be registered. No suicide note was found from the spot, they said.
Rajput hailed from Bihar and was educated in Patna and New Delhi, before shifting to Mumbai.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi mourned Rajput’s death, remembering him as a “bright young actor”.
His ex-manager, 28-year-old Disha Salian, ended her life by jumping from a high rise building on June 9.
Last week, the actor mourned Salian’s death and called it “devastating news”.
“It’s such devastating news. My deepest condolences to Disha’s family and friends. May your soul rest in peace,” he had written on his Instagram stories.
In his last post on Instagram, the actor shared a short poem with a picture of him juxtaposed with that of his mother.
An engineering dropout, Rajput was inclined towards dancing when he was a student at Delhi Technological University. He soon enrolled in choreographer Shiamak Davar’s dance classes and later joined acting guru Barry John’s classes.
He also performed as a background dancer in the song “Dhoom again” with Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in the 2006 film “Dhoom 2”.
But it was the small screen that gave the “outsider” his breakout role as the coy and mild-mannered Manav in soap opera “Pavitra Rishta”, which ran from 2009-11, and was produced by Ekta Kapoor.
Two years later, he made his foray into films with “Kai Po Che!” in 2013.
He has starred in movies such as “Shuddh Desi Romance”, “Raabta”, “Kedarnath” and “Sonchiriya” but his most prominent role came as cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s in the 2007 biopic, “MS Dhoni: The Untold Story”.
In his last screen appearance, “Chhichhore”, Rajput played the role of a father who conveys the message of hope and affirmation to his son after he attempts suicide.
“Chhichhore” director Tiwari said he had spoken to Rajput last week.
“I had to call people to confirm. It’s so shocking and unfortunately true. I am at a loss for words. I spoke to him last week over messages. We would text each other on and off. Now this is what I get to hear. He was like a younger brother to me,” Tiwari told reporters.