MUMBAI: Union Minister of State for Social Justice & Empowerment, Ramdas Athawale said “If Bollywood film actress Rhea Chakravarty gets bail in the SSR death case, that’s fine — but drugs should not be used in the film industry. The AIIMS report had declared SSR’s death as suicide, but I still urge for a CBI inquiry in this regard.”

“The Mumbai police are very efficient and if there is no suicide note, they should be able to come to a conclusion of murder or suicide of the actor. The Maharashtra Government should not be criticized in this regard, but the suicide report should be confirmed by a CBI inquiry.” he said.

To media questions about Bollywood and drugs, the Minister said that he had supported actress Kangana Ranaut when she was threatened by others, but he did not agree with her comments against Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.  “Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena MP) is my friend but he should have not made certain comments,” he said.

Athawle said Rahul Gandhi +should refrain from indulging in politics+ – irrespective of whichever Government is in Power – and should focus on prevention of atrocities on dalits like what happened in the Hathras incident where a 19-year-old dalit girl was allegedly gangraped and succumbed to her injuries on September 29.

“I announced Rs 5 lakh — during my visit to the girl’s home — to be given to the affected family on behalf of the Republican Party of India (RPI) and I also asked for police protection for them. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said harsh punishment will be given to the girl’s killers,” he said.

Replying to questions on the Hathras incident, he said four culprits had been caught but some people were allegedly trying to aggravate these issues in Uttar Pradesh. The UP police had +committed some mistakes+ including cremating the dead girl quickly to avoid problems, though they should have allowed the deceased’s parents and relatives to be present.