Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar has slapped a Rs 5 billion defamation suit on a popular Indian YouTuber for linking him to the Sushant Singh Rajput death case.
In his videos on YouTube, Rashid Siddiqui alleged that Akshay held secret meetings with the top brass of Mumbai Police in connection with Sushant's death and had even helped the late actor's rumoured girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty escape to Canada.
The 25-year-old YouTuber also claimed that Akshay was "unhappy" with Sushant bagging 'Dhoni:The Untold Story', a blockbuster movie on former Indian cricket captain MS Dhoni.
Though the Bollywood superstar has not said anything about the defamation suit publicly, sources told UNB that Akshay was unhappy with the "baseless" allegations levelled by the YouTuber for monetary gains.
Akshay has appeared in over 100 films in his 29-year career and won several awards, including a National Film Award. He was the first Bollywood action hero whose films' net lifetime collections crossed USD 280 million by 2013 and USD 420 million by 2016.
Rashid was earlier arrested by Mumbai Police for spreading fake news and dragging the names of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and his son Aditya, apart from several Bollywood personalities, in the same case.
Through the spread of "fake news", Siddiqui, a civil engineer, reportedly netted around 15 lakh Indian rupees in a span of four months. The so-called sensational claims also helped his subscriber base grow from 2 lakh to over 3 lakh.
Through the spread of "fake news", Siddiqui, a civil engineer, reportedly netted around 15 lakh Indian rupees in a span of four months. The so-called sensational claims also helped his subscriber base grow from 2 lakh to over 3 lakh.
Rhea was arrested by India's Narcotics Control Bureau on September 9, following days of questioning, in connection with the death of 34-year-old Sushant, whose body was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his Mumbai flat on June 14.
Many Bollywood stars, including Deepika Padukone, Shraddha Kapoor and Sara Ali Khan, had been grilled by the narcotics sleuths in the case after WhatsApp chats retrieved from
Rhea's mobile phone indicated they procured drugs from dealers with foreign links.
Sushant's death case captivated and polarised India, with a section of the media being accused of running a biased campaign against Rhea and Bollywood celebrities.