‘Why, what made February so different from October?’ The answer is that in the intervening months, the medical community has built up a substantial dossier on the coronavirus and its offspring, Covid-19; not all the unwholesome characteristics of the lump of protein, but enough to say on the eve of Gandhi Jayanti that we know enough of the uninvited and unsolicited critter to drive a couple of nails in its coffin.

Like the old adage goes, knowing your enemy is half the battle won. And though we haven’t yet got to halfway on Covid-19, we’re aware of a quarter of the damage it can do to the human body, and to the human spirit. Chengez Khan could kill millions because he was an unknown quantity, to begin with. The sketches of Changez Khan in school text books do not tell about half the evil in him. Ditto Taimur Lane. But there are parents who christen their sons ‘Taimur’ and they trot out lame excuses for the naming.

Changez Khan preceded Taimur Lame and both are long dead. Yet ask ‘SSRians’ and they will swear Bollywood is teaming with Changez and Taimur, evil doers who will kill and then go home and roll a reefer to climb into bed! To tell the truth, common Indians didn’t know half the reality of ‘Bollywood.’ Now, after the inexplicable death of SSR, evry Tom, Dick and ‘Bihari’ Harry is getting to know ‘Bollywood’ far better, a la Covid-19 – understanding the evilness in Bollywood and in the coronavirus.

To be honest, our knowledge about coronavirus and Covid—19 is by far more substantial than what we know of the death of Sushant Singh Rajput. At least, we know that Covid-19 kills some and leaves some. Nothing of the sort in the SSR case, which – if Sushant’s death was indeed murder – has seen more deviltry and ruthlessness than can be expected from even a Changez or a Taimur. The worst thing about ‘SSR’ there’s a degree of ‘believability’ in the saga, especially after coupling with the equally Disha Salian “suicide.” The coincidence is too close for comfort.

The question is who is saving whom, and who is attempting to foist the ‘criminal tag’ on who? Sushant Singh Rajput’s death has become handy political tool is an understatement. It’s being used, suspiciously. There is an all-pervading smell about it. Evidence was ‘lost’ deliberately. The hasty cremation of SSR’s body was evidence destroyed at source. Now, there’s talk of “not enough viscera.” Of course, Mumbai Police played dirty. The Shiv Sena looks suspiciously complicit –fishy in the muddied waters with the taste of cod liver oil. Ugh!

That being said the Centre’s role is no less fishy. What’s the BJP playing at? Canned fish – Mackerel, sardine? Was SSR tailor-made for the Bihar Election? Or, were the goalposts changed after following the Bollywood drug trail? There’s an outside chance that bargaining chips could give the Bharatiya Janata Party another shot at forming the government in Maharashtra, which is by far a bigger catch than Sushant Singh Rajput’s Bihar.

Now, confusion reigns. SSR’s alleged suicide looks suspiciously like alleged murder and vice versa. And to bring the Arctic and Antarctica into the ‘picture abhi baaki hai’ is like setting the cat among the penguins! Shiv Sena’s maiden attempt at having a Thackeray leading the state government is cause for envy and jealousy. Sections of the braying media are baying for Thackeray blood, especially media that does not have a single secular bone in their frame.

To settle and raise the dust, there are tens of thousands of young men and women, boys and girls, who are like children lost in the woods, lending voice and energy to what’s taken hold as ‘Justice for Sushant.’ They are in small towns and big cities throughout India, and across Social Media. To thousands, the campaign is a money-spinner, choc-a-bloc choking YouTube and Instagram with videos of ‘investigative video-journalism,’ questioning police and state and central government, ‘Who killed SSR?’

Yes, it’s hark-back to ‘Who killed Jessica? Déjà vu. Oops, ‘Who killed Disha?’ too. Who was this guy Sushant Singh Rajput from Bihar? For sure, he was not the usual sort that land up in Mumbai and Bollywood by the thousands every year. This guy’s been built up as a special kind, with dreams and stars. At once astronomer and scientist. Engineer and Start-up genius. Actor and storyteller. Gymnast and bodybuilder. Playboy and ‘Bihari.’ Did he commit suicide? The SSR death is a nightmare to solve. Murkier and Murkier. So much so, Sherlock Holmes would have refused the case. (IPA Service)