Actor Rhea Chakraborty has said that she and her father lost their livelihoods, and brother could not join Indian Institute of Management (IIM) despite doing well in the entrance exam, in the aftermath of actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death and the intense media scrutiny that followed. Rhea was dating Sushant at the time of his death. She was named as a suspect in his death by various investigating agencies and his family; she was cleared of all charges by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2025.

Speaking to Farah Khan on her latest YouTube vlog, Rhea Chakraborty said it felt like the society had cancelled them and their lives came to a standstill. She and her brother were arrested in a drug case related to Rajput’s death, changing their lives forever. Several years later, Rhea and Shovik have rebuilt their lives with Chapter 2, a clothing brand and podcast, which has reportedly done well enough for Rhea to buy a new home.

She said, “Shovik and I started Chapter Two Show because he got 97% in CAT. We had all that happen in 2020. The same year, he got 97%, he got arrested along with me. In three months, the first trimester passed. We had paid the fees. He had got into IIM. Then he lost the trimester. All this happened. We came out. Then there was no work.”

She explained that after they were released from jail, their lives came to a standstill. “We used to be just sitting at home. In a way, we were cancelled by society. Nobody offered me films. Shovik wasn’t even getting a job. No corporate was willing to take him in.”

The impact of Rhea’s involvement in the case extended to her family as well. She said her retired army officer father had to give up a high-paying job after the hospital discovered he was Rhea’s father.

She said, “In fact, even papa got a very big job as a medical superintendent in one of the very big hospitals in town, and then they found out his surname and said, ‘Sir, you are Rhea Chakraborty’s father.’ He had to leave that job.”

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After facing several setbacks and remaining jobless for an extended period, the brother-sister duo came up with the idea for Chapter 2.

She revealed, “This was when we were like, we have had it enough. We don’t want to depend on people anymore. I want to do something of our own. After a lot of thinking, we came up with the idea of selling apparels. This connects back to the time when I was arrested. Unknowingly, I wore this T-shirt which read: ‘Roses are red, Violets are Blue, Let’s smash the patriarchy me and you.’ It was a T-shirt gifted by an NGO. That T-shirt went viral. It spoke for me when I couldn’t myself. I found this out several months later.”

Calling the incident a source of motivation, Rhea said, “So we decided to make more such clothes which can give people a voice. And that’s how Chapter 2 started. It is doing well.”

In the aftermath of Rajput’s death, FIRs were filed against Chakraborty and her family on charges of abetment to suicide, criminal intimidation and money laundering by Rajput’s family as well as by investigating agencies. She was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau and spent nearly a month in prison. The NCB accused Chakraborty and her brother of coordinating drug deliveries for the late actor.

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The CBI filed a closure report in the Sushant Singh Rajput death case on March 23, 2025, clearing Rhea and her family from all kind of charges. CBI reportedly concluded that there was no evidence to support allegations of abetment to suicide, illegal confinement or theft. Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead at his Mumbai residence in June 2020.