Five years after Balika Vadhu fame actress Pratyusha Banerjee died by suicide, her name popped up in the news again after Vikas Gupta claimed that he dated her briefly. Pratyusha was reportedly found dead at her home in Goregaon on April 1. After Vikas Gupta's claims, the late actress' boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh has stated that Gupta and Pratyusha never dated. He asserted that Vikas is cooking up stories and using the actress's name for publicity.
Rahul Raj Singh told ETimes, "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."
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He added, "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."
On a related note, after Pratyusha's sudden demise, the actress' parents had accused Rahul for abetment to suicide. Her parents and friends alleged that Rahul Raj Singh forced her to take the drastic step and the transcript of her last call to rahul also came into the limelight.
Pratyusha, in the three-minute call, was lashing out at her beau and was accusing him of ruining her life. The Balika Vadhu actress even told Rahul that she is going to end everything in next half an hour. "I had not come here to sell myself… I had come here to act… to work. And where are you putting me today.. Rahul, you have no idea how bad I am feeling right now. You are selfish… you are spoiling my name. People are talking about me… my mom and dad are termed ghatiya", the actress was reported saying.
On the other hand, Rahul Raj Singh had claimed to be innocent throughout the investigation and said that he has been wrongly accused in the case by Pratyusha’s parents. Rahul even alleged that Pratyusha didn't share a good relation with her parents and that she used to complain about them to him quite often.