The Mumbai Police reiterated that celebrity Manager Disha Salian had died by suicide. Disha was the former manager of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput for a brief period and had even worked with actor Varun Sharma. On Wednesday, the Mumbai Police opposed a writ plea in the Bombay High Court that Disha’s father had filed, seeking a fresh investigation into her death. Salian, 28, died on June 8, 2020, at a residential building in suburban Malad, six days before Rajput’s death at his Bandra residence on June 14.
Disha’s father Satish Salian, in his petition seeking registration of an FIR based on a written complaint given by activist and lawyer Rashid Khan Pathan in January 2024 against Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray and transferring the probe to the CBI, claimed that he initially believed that the investigation was “genuine, but later found it to be a cover-up”.
A senior officer of the Malvani police station sought a dismissal of the pleae and stated that a closure report had been filed in the case. The officer sated that the findings of a Special Investiogation Team (SIT) constituted in 2023 were consistant to findings of the earlier investigation. The officer added that the SIT is carrying out further investigation.
However, petitioner Satish Salian, in his rejoinder to the police’s affidavit, claimed that the high court, on April 30, directed the state government, through its chief secretary, to file a reply to the plea. Instead, an “unauthorised and biased” response by a “conflicted officer” of the Malvani police was filed, he alleged.
An affidavit in reply filed by Shailendra Raghunath Nagarkar, senior Police Inspector of the Malvani police station, stated that an accidental death report (ADR) was registered on June 9, 2020. After the probe, the then investigation officer filed a closure report, which a special executive magistrate accepted on February 4, 2021. The officer added that contentions in the father’s plea are “baseless and unfounded”, while maintaining that Disha Salian died by suicide.
The officer further stated that the closure report was based on scientific investigation and post-mortem report indicated “no signs of sexual and/or physical assault”.
Meanwhile, SIT set up in December 2023, reinvestigated the ADR and questioned witnesses and examined CCTV footage and reanalysed call detail records (CDR) of important witnesses
“So far, the findings of SIT pertaining to the circumstances that caused deceased Disha Salian’s death are coherent with the finding of an earlier investigation officer of the said case. However, further investigation is still being carried out by the SIT,” the affidavit added. The police further said there was “no corroborative evidence to substantiate the claims raised in the petition” and there is “no room for suspicion as against the investigation” and there were” no grounds to initiate probe for allegations of gang rape. (Agencies)
Also Read: Maniesh Paul to play a villain in Karan Johar’s next? Actor’s new bald look sparks buzz
Also Watch: