The Bombay High Court has asked its registry to assign the petition for a fresh investigation into the death of Disha Salian, former manager of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, to an appropriate bench after her father informed a bench led by Justice Revati Mohite-Dere that his plea pertained to another bench.
The matter was listed before a bench of Justices Mohite-Dere and Neela K Gokhale for Wednesday. But Satish Salian informed the court that the relief he seeks pertained to a bench led by Justice Sarang V Kotwal.
“Considering the relief sought, the petitioner says it pertains to the bench of Justice Kotwal. Registry to take appropriate steps,” the high court noted in its order.
Disha, 28, died on June 8, 2020, after falling off the 14th floor of a residential building in suburban Malad, six days before Rajput’s death at his Bandra residence on June 14.
In February 2022, Satish appealed to journalists to leave his family alone, stating that politicians were maligning his daughter’s name by raising questions over the circumstances surrounding her death.
Satish’s plea says he initially believed that the investigation was genuine but later found it to be a cover-up.
He has also sought to tag his writ petition with the PIL plea filed by Rashid Khan Pathan, who claimed to be president of the Supreme Court & High Court Litigants Association of India, seeking a direction for the CBI to investigate Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray in relation to the deaths of Rajput and Disha.
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In October last year, Thackeray filed a caveat in the high court seeking to be heard before any order is passed on Pathan’s petition.
Thackeray, in his intervention application, stated that the PIL was non-maintainable as the investigation in the Rajput case was already being conducted by the CBI, the Supreme Court was seized of the matter, and no order could be passed by the high court in this regard.
During the hearing on Pathan’s plea on February 5, Thackeray’s lawyer submitted that nothing was found against his client in an investigation carried out by the local police and the Criminal Investigation Department.
The bench led by Chief Justice Alok Aradhe then told the petitioner that if he had any new evidence, he could give it to the police. The court also said it would have to first ascertain the maintainability of Pathan’s plea.
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