The Maharashtra government on December 12 said that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted to probe the alleged accidental death of Disha Salian (28), the ex-manager of late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
Confirming the development to The Hindu, BJP leader and MLA, Nitesh Rane, said the SIT was formed to ensure all perpetrators are brought to justice.
“Since day one, I have been telling that her death was not accidental. Some bigwigs in politics are behind her death. All culprits in the case will be exposed soon. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde personally informed me about the SIT,” he said.
He claimed that Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray might face SIT questioning regarding his alleged connection to Salian’s death. “The team might ask him why his name crops up whenever someone talks about Salian’s death,” he asserted, alleging that drugs were used in the party held before the death of Salian.
Questions may arise about Mr. Thackeray’s presence in Malad when Salian died, Mr. Rane said. “Investigation will go in the right direction now. Mr. Thackeray’s cellphone tower network records show that he was in Malad when she died,” he alleged.
On June 8, 2020, a week before Sushant was found dead, his manager died after falling from the 14th floor of a building in Malad. Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also holds the Home Department portfolio, had announced that the government would form an SIT to probe Salian’s death during last year’s winter session of the legislature in Nagpur.
Mr. Fadnavis did not respond to a query from this correspondent about the SIT.
However, sources confirmed said that Deputy Commissioner of Police Ajay Bansal will supervise the probe which will be done by Malvani Police Station senior inspector Chimaji Adhav.
The death of Ms. Salian triggered political mudslinging in Maharashtra with the BJP, then in the Opposition, accusing the erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government of hushing up the matter. Some leaders sought to drag Mr. Thackeray’s name in the case, who was then a Minister in the MVA government led by his father Uddhav Thackeray.
“The team will question all the suspects, including politicians, her family members, suspects in Rajput’s case,” the source quoted above said.
Asked if there was any deadline to complete the probe, the officer said: “There is no such thing. We will conduct a detailed probe and submit the report in a sealed-cover to the government.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Uddhav said that he didn’t have any official information about such an order. “If anything official comes out, then that day we will reveal the information with us about them. If they level false allegations against us, then we will bring out the true information against them,” he said without naming anyone.