The Bombay High Court on Wednesday ordered a CBI investigation into the death of former celebrity manager Disha Salian, following a plea by her father questioning the circumstances surrounding her death in 2020.
A bench of Justices Sarang Kotwal and Ranjitsinha Raja Bhonsale said the CBI shall register an FIR and record the statement of the deceased's father, Satish Salian, but no person shall be treated as an accused until and unless there is sufficient material gathered against them during the probe.
The court ordered the Mumbai police to hand over all case papers to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) forthwith.
"In case the investigation reveals that no case is made out, then the CBI shall file the appropriate summary report before the court concerned," the bench said.
Satish Salian would be at liberty to challenge the report, the court said.
Disha Salian died on June 8, 2020, after falling off the 14th floor of a residential building in Mumbai's Malad area. The city police then registered an Accidental Death Report (ADR).
After conducting an inquiry, the police claimed that Disha Salian's death was a case of suicide. Her father, however, filed a petition in the HC last year alleging that his daughter was gang-raped and murdered.
Satish Salian's advocate Nilesh Ojha had raised doubts about the police probe into the case.
Salian sought a CBI probe into his daughter's death and for an FIR to be registered against Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray.
In his plea, he claimed that his daughter was found dead under mysterious circumstances in June 2020. He alleged that she was raped and murdered, and subsequently there was a politically orchestrated cover-up to protect certain influential persons.
(With inputs from PTI)
