Rhea Chakraborty Explains Why ‘Traitor’ Label Feels Different to Her on The Traitors 2

THE CELEBRITY HOUR

For most contestants on The Traitors, becoming a Traitor is simply another strategic position in the game. For Rhea Chakraborty, however, the label carries a meaning that extends well beyond the reality show.

During the second season of Prime Video’s strategy series, Rhea explained that she did not want to be selected as a Traitor because of what she has already experienced in her personal life. As suspicion around her increased during the game, she connected the fictional accusation of betrayal with the intense public scrutiny she faced following actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death in 2020.

Her remarks add an unusually personal dimension to a format deliberately built around suspicion, deception, and the question of whom contestants can trust.

Why Rhea did not want the Traitor role

Rhea had indicated from the beginning of the season that she preferred to play as an Innocent rather than become one of the secret Traitors.

In an interaction with host Karan Johar shown on the programme, she said in Hindi that she wanted to be an “innocent,” referring to the fact that developments in the investigation into Sushant Singh Rajput’s death had finally changed the way the case stood after years of scrutiny.

The Indian Express subsequently reported her remark from the show's promotional material: “Main innocent banna chahti hoon” -“I want to be an innocent.”

The choice has particular significance within The Traitors. Contestants are divided between Innocents and secretly selected Traitors. The Traitors attempt to eliminate other players without exposing their identities, while the Innocents must identify and banish them.

Prime Video officially describes the format as a game of trust, betrayal, and deception, with Karan Johar returning as host for Season 2. The new season premiered on August 13, 2026, with new episodes releasing every Thursday.

When Rhea subsequently became the subject of suspicion during the game, she again made clear that being branded a “Traitor” was uncomfortable for reasons that had little to do with strategy.

According to The Indian Express’ Bengali edition, she referred to the possibility that the label could once again trigger negative memes and commentary around her past.

That context is important because the comment was not simply about wanting an easier position in the competition. Rhea was explicitly connecting the terminology of the show with a period in which she had already faced sustained public accusations.

The legal background behind Rhea’s reference

Rhea’s comments refer to the investigations that followed Sushant Singh Rajput’s death in Mumbai on June 14, 2020.

The Central Bureau of Investigation took over an FIR that had originally been registered in Bihar following a complaint by Rajput’s father. Rhea and members of her family came under investigation amid multiple allegations surrounding the actor’s death.

Years later, in March 2025, the CBI filed closure reports in the cases connected to Rajput’s death. Reports on the filing said the agency did not find evidence supporting allegations that Rhea and her family were responsible for abetting his death.

That development is the basis for Rhea’s own use of the phrase “clean chit.”

However, it is useful to distinguish that investigation from the separate narcotics proceedings that arose during the broader 2020 controversy.

Rhea was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau in September 2020 in a drugs-related case and spent nearly a month in custody before the Bombay High Court granted her bail in October that year.

Those were separate proceedings and should not be conflated with the CBI investigation into the circumstances of Rajput’s death.

Courts had already given Rhea relief before the CBI closure report

There had also been important legal developments before the CBI filed its closure report.

In February 2024, the Bombay High Court quashed Look Out Circulars issued against Rhea, her brother Showik Chakraborty, and their parents.

The court found that the circulars did not contain adequate reasons for restricting their travel and noted that the family had cooperated with the investigation.

When the CBI, Maharashtra government, and Bureau of Immigration challenged that decision, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal in October 2024. The court criticized the challenge and refused to restore the Look Out Circulars.

These developments help explain why Rhea is now publicly framing the period as a chapter from which she is attempting to move forward.

The Traitors 2 gives that history an unexpected context

Prime Video officially announced the return of The Traitors as part of its 2026 India slate, with Karan Johar again hosting the reality competition.

Season 2 eventually arrived with a large celebrity cast that includes Rhea alongside personalities such as Shalini Passi and other figures from film, television, digital entertainment, and popular culture.

The format requires contestants to scrutinize one another’s behavior constantly. An Innocent can be banished simply because enough fellow players become convinced that he or she is secretly a Traitor.

That makes Rhea’s situation unusual. Within the game, accusations of dishonesty are routine and essential to the format. Outside it, she has spent years dealing with much more consequential allegations and intense public judgment.

Her reluctance to adopt the Traitor role therefore reflects the collision between the artificial identity created by the reality show and a real chapter of her life that remains closely associated with her public image.

The Celebrity Hour Take

Rhea Chakraborty’s participation gives The Traitors 2 a layer that the format itself could not have manufactured.

The show treats suspicion as entertainment: contestants accuse one another, alliances collapse, and being called a Traitor is part of the game. For Rhea, the same vocabulary inevitably carries additional baggage because she spent years being publicly judged while multiple investigations were underway.

Her comments should therefore not be interpreted as an attempt to rewrite the record of those investigations. The more precise point is that the CBI investigation into Sushant Singh Rajput’s death ultimately ended with closure reports in 2025, after Rhea had already endured years of scrutiny. Her appearance on a programme built around trust and betrayal makes that history impossible to separate completely from the way she plays the game.

It also marks another stage in her return to mainstream entertainment. After a prolonged period away from regular screen work, Rhea returned to television with MTV Roadies: Karm Ya Kaand in 2023 and has since gradually resumed public-facing projects. The Traitors 2 places her in a particularly exposed format, one where being doubted is not an unfortunate side effect but the central mechanism of the show.