Mumbai, Jan 2 Arrested actor Sheezan Khan's family and legal team on Monday hit back at the allegations made by late actress Tunisha's mom Vanita Sharma, saying that they "never compelled her to embrace Islam" while revealing details about the alleged rocky relations of the mother-daughter.
Khan's family - sisters Falaq and Shafaz, mother Parveen, and lawyer Shailendra Mishra - rubbished Vanita Sharma's claims made on December 30, that they were pressuring her to convert to Islam, and that she had started sporting a 'hijab' against her wishes.
They also denied ever taking her to a 'dargah' or making her wear a hijab, as claimed by Vanita Sharma and her uncle Pawan Sharma.
The Khans pointed out that the viral photo of Tunisha sporting a 'hijab' was actually from the shoots of her show, "Ali Baba: Dastaan-E-Kabul", currently being shot in Vasai, where she (Tunisha) was found dead on December 24.
Addressing the media, the Khan family said that on the contrary, Vanita Sharma was forcing Tunisha to work though she was suffering depression.
"Tunisha was suffering from depression due to a childhood trauma.. She was made to sign up for two music videos though she was not interested... If her mother had not forced her to work and given her professional mental treatment on time, she would have been alive today," said Shafaq Khan.
They further claimed that Tunisha's relations with her mom were strained and Vanita Sharma had allegedly once tried to strangle her daughter and even smashed her mobile phone.
"Tunisha never wanted to act. She wanted to study and travel, see the world, but her family never allowed her out. First time she went to a beach with us, that poor girl," said Falaq.
The siblings said that Tunisha always regarded them as their elder sister and they always were concerned for her, and recounted an instance when she suffered 104 degree fever on the sets and Vanita Sharma requested the Khans to take care of her as she was out of town.
On the alleged break-up, the Khans said that it was their mutual decision as they both decided to first concentrate on their acting careers and take a call later, "and Vanita was the happiest at this break-up".
Lawyer Mishra said Tunisha had 2 previous relations which broke and she emerged from it, and did not break down, and the Palghar police are probing all these angles.
"The police have arrested Sheezan under pressure from the media-trial. The Khan family is in no way connected with her death. Nothing will emerge from the police probe as Sheezan has done nothing wrong," he said.
The family questioned Vanita Sharma's accusations and asked her to provide solid evidence on the 'dargah trips' or Sheezan slapping Tunisha.
They also pointed out that Vanita Sharma's claim of the Khans giving a dog to Tunisha was false as that German Shepherd dog actually belonged to her uncle Sanjeev Kaushal, the photo of that dog was taken in Chandigarh, though Tunisha desperately wanted a pet which could love her owing to her delicate mental status.
The sisters said on December 16, Tunisha suffered a panic attack on the sets, was crying and Sheezan offered to take her to hospital, but she declined and went on her own to a Borivali hospital.
When the Khan sisters asked her what was wrong, Vanita Sharma said it was stress, but was more concerned about her next day's shoot than her daughter's health status.
The family accused Vanita Sharma of not giving enough money to her daughter, "controlling" her finances, even as the Khans tried to "help rebuild" the mother-daughter's strained relations.
Mishra said Tunisha and Sheezan were good friends and co-actors, but her family never gave her any love and "she was looking for love outside" since she was deprived of it by her own people.
"We are very happy that for five months, we made her feel very happy... we took her for outings, but her mom used to harass her with constant phone-calls even on the shooting sets. Wish we had come in contact with that child earlier and we could have given her more joy," said Shafaz.
On the alleged incidents on December 24, Mishra said that police have acquired the full CCTV footage of the incidents, all the witnesses after she was found, and the 'truth will emerge' soon, and the family has applied for Sheezan's bail.
Tunisha reportedly commited suicide on December 24, on the teleserial sets and the following day, her co-star and former boyfriend Sheezan was nabbed for allegedly abetting her suicide.
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