Sheezan Khan's kin hit back: Never forced Tunisha to embrace Islam

MUMBAI: Arrested actor Sheezan Khan's family and his legal team on Monday hit back at the allegations made by the late actress Tunisha's mother Vanita Sharma and said they "never compelled her to embrace Islam", here on Monday.

Khan's sisters - Falaq and Shafaz - and their lawyers rubbished Vanita Sharma's claims made on December 30, that they were forcing her to convert to Islam, and that she had started sporting a 'hijab' against her wishes.

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-Kabula, 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 from depression owing to childhood trauma.

"Tunisha was suffering from depression due to a childhood trauma... She was made to sign for two music videos though she was not interested... If her mother had not forced her to work she would have been alive today," said Shafaq Khan.

They further claimed that Tunisha's relations with her mother were purportedly strained and Vanita had allegedly once tried to strangle her daughter.

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.