Bengaluru: Bigg Boss Kannada Season 4 winner Pratham, who is set to debut in Sandalwood as a lead actor in ‘Devrantha Manushya’, allegedly tried to commit suicide by popping sleeping pills at his residence in Nagarbhavi on Tuesday.
He streamed a video, which he claimed quite dramatically would be his last, on his Facebook account even as he popped sleeping pills. He claimed that he was trying to commit suicide as he was being harassed by Lokesh, an amateur film director. But “harassment from Lokesh”, the attempt is being seen as a gimmick by many, including his friend-turned-foe Lokesh, to hog the limelight.
Pratham in the video, which he announced would be his last, said that he wanted to teach those who humiliated him a lesson by committing suicide. “At least after my death, people would think twice before making derogatory remarks,” Pratham said in the video. “People are making me emotionally weak. Anything I do is being projected wrongly. I cannot take it anymore. This will be my final Facebook Live video and sorry If I have hurt anyone," he said as he consumed sleeping pills
Pratham said in the video that Lokesh was torturing him emotionally and blamed the media for airing false news about him. “I am yet to receive the prize money from the TV channel, but many people are already asking me how I would distribute it among the poor,” Pratham said, referring to the money he won in Bigg Boss and his promise that he would donate it to the needy.
Showing the cheque and passbook in the video, Pratham said that he received the cheque only recently and that he would not keep a single paisa of the prize money as announced on the Bigg Boss stage after winning the event.
Pratham alleged that Lokesh misused his name and maligned his reputation. He said that some people were claiming that he demanded appearance money of '60,000 to attend an event organised by an orphanage. “It baseless,” he retorted.
The police have taken up a non-cognizable case and are investigating further.
Pratham out of danger
Pratham, who was rushed to a private hospital by his friends on Wednesday morning, is out of danger. The doctors, who attended on him, said that his life was not in danger as he popped only two sleeping pills.
Tussle between the duo
Lokesh, who is an amateur film director, had filed a complaint against the Bigg Boss winner at the Basaveshwara Nagar police station, alleging that Pratham had assaulted him. Lokesh had told the police that Pratham asked him to meet in Kamala Nagar and then manhandled him.
Video draws flak
On Wednesday morning, fans of Bigg Boss Season 4 winner Pratham awoke to the shocking news of the budding actor’s suicide attempt. But Lokesh, whom Pratham blamed for torturing him emotionally in his “suicide video”, and Pratham’s co-contestants in Big Boss dubbed it a “publicity stunt”. Pratham, who shot to fame after winning Bigg Boss 4, has received offers from the Kannada film industry and will debut with ‘Devrantha Manushya’.
His co-contestants in BB 4 said Pratham was known for drama in the Big Boss House. A co-contestant, on condition of anonymity, said the suicide attempt was a mere stunt to be in news. “A man who is disturbed and wishes to die would pop the pills and not count them, like Pratham did,” he said.
In February Pratham filed a police complaint saying his laptop, an external hard disk and a mobile phone were stolen from his house. Nandini Layout police traced the “stolen” phone to his house, but Pratham told them a different phone had been stolen.
