When the news about the suicide of former Central Bureau of Investigation Director Ashwani Kumar broke last week, there were many who received WhatsApp messages inquiring: What is the real story behind his suicide? Several tweets reminded us that the CBI had arrested Home Minister Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case, in July 2010, under Kumar's aegis. They were hinting at the possibility that he could have been murdered.

These speculations were scotched by the disclosure that Kumar had left behind a suicide note. Yet the initial flurry of responses to the news of his death testifies to the growing disinclination of people to accept a newsworthy occurrence on its face, believing the reality behind it has been manipulated to conceal a sinister backstory. So, was actor Sushant Singh Rajput murdered? After weeks of freewheeling speculations, the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences unequivocally declared that he did indeed commit suicide. Could not the Bollywood mafia have bought over the AIIMS doctors? Well!