Congress continues protests against 'harassment' of Rhea Chakraborty

Congress activists took out a rally in support of Rhea Chakraborty in the metropolis on Monday, the second such march in two days, alleging that the actor was "continuously harassed" in the name of investigation.

Around 100 Youth Congress activists participated in the procession that started from Raja Bazar, shouting slogans that Rhea, the girlfriend of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput, was a victim of political conspiracy hatched by the BJP ahead of the Bihar Assembly polls.

"We strongly protest against the continued harassment of Rhea, the daughter of Bengal, by central agencies in the name of investigation in the Sushant Singh Rajput case," a Youth Congress member said.

Party activists had taken out similar rallies in the state on Saturday, too.

Last week, Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha and its Bengal unit chief, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, had said Rajput was an Indian actor, but the "BJP turned him into a Bihari actor" only to score electoral brownie points.

Leaders of several political parties have also been insisting that the "vilification campaign" against Rhea "proved" Bengalis are a soft target of the BJP, which is looking to cash in on this narrative ahead of the Bihar Assembly polls.

"I feel that as Rhea is a Bengali, she was victimised even before she was proven guilty in court. The vilification campaign once again proves the sheer hatred of the BJP towards the Bengalis," senior TMC leader and national spokesperson Saugata Roy had recently said.

After days of interrogation, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had arrested Rhea, 28, in a drugs case linked to Rajput's death, following which she was sent to judicial custody till September 22 by a local court.