Image credit: dnaindia.com
It’s been five years since Balika Vadhu actor Pratyusha Banerjee‘s surprising and unfortunate demise, she reportedly died by suicide at her residence in Goregaon on April 1, her name resurfaced after Vikas Gupta in an interview mentioned that he had dated Pratyusha for a long duration, she was popularly known after playing the role of Anandi in Indian daily soap ‘Balika Vadhu’. He added that the late actress only came to know about his bisexuality after they divided their ways. This statement hasn’t gone down well with Pratyusha’s former boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh.
Rahul tells E-Times, “Pratyusha was always open about her relationships. She never hid her personal life. Vikas Gupta is just making use of the situation because the person isn’t alive to respond to his claims. She had told me when we were doing the show Power Couple (2015) that Vikas had proposed to her and she declined it, as she was aware of his sexuality. When I asked her why didn’t take up any project after Balika Vadhu and cash in on the success of her show, she told me that Vikas had planned a project with her, which he scrapped later.”
Rahul accuses Vikas of utilizing Pratyusha’s name to his benefit. “Pratyusha never dated Vikas, so the question of them parting ways doesn’t arise. In fact, they weren’t even on talking terms after a point. He shouldn’t cook up stories for publicity. Pratyusha would have slapped him had she been alive,” he says, adding, “I also don’t appreciate him bringing up my name in his interviews. I don’t think he has anything else to talk about other than me eating chips at the hospital (when Pratyusha had died by suicide). I find it defamatory and if this doesn’t stop, I will have to legal action against him. All I want to say is that stop using Pratyusha’s name to be in the limelight.”