Bombay HC likely to hear plea by Disha Salian’s father seeking fresh investigation on April 2

As per case status on the Bombay HC website, the plea filed through advocate Abhishek Mishra on March 21 is auto-listed for hearing before a bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Neela K Gokhale on April 2.

The writ plea has sought direction to the Mumbai police to register a First Information Report (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 sought to transfer the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Earlier, in March 2023, the Mumbai police had formed a three-member special investigation team (SIT) to investigate Disha Salian’s death.

The plea claimed that the father initially believed that the investigation conducted was genuine, but now has learnt it to be a cover-up.

In February 2022, Disha Salian’s father had appealed to media persons to leave them alone, stating that politicians were maligning their daughter’s name by raising questions over the circumstances surrounding her death.

“The circumstances surrounding her death were immediately questionable, yet instead of conducting an impartial and scientific investigation, the Mumbai Police hastily closed the case as a suicide, without taking into account forensic evidence,
circumstantial proofs, and eyewitness testimonies,” the plea reads.

It adds, “The pattern of deception, cover-ups, and evidence suppression demonstrates that this was a state-sponsored operation to protect the guilty, rather than a genuine criminal investigation.”

Besides this, Disha Salian’s father has sought to tag his writ petition with the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Pathan, who claimed to be president of the ‘Supreme Court & High Court Litigants Association of India’, seeking direction to the CBI to probe Aaditya Thackeray in relation to the deaths of Sushant Singh Rajput and Disha Salian.

While speaking to media persons outside the state legislative assembly on Thursday, Aaditya Thackeray dismissed allegations against him and said he would respond to them in court.

In October last year, Aaditya Thackeray filed a caveat in the Bombay High Court seeking to be heard before any order is passed in PIL filed by Pathan.

Aaditya Thackeray, in his intervention application, stated that the PIL was non-maintainable as the investigation in the Sushant Singh 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, Aaditya Thackeray’s lawyer told HC that nothing was found against his client in an investigation carried out by the local police station, and the Criminal Investigation Department.

The bench led by Chief Justice Alok Aradhe had told the petitioner that if he had any new evidence, he could give it to the police. The court had also said that it would have to first ascertain the maintainability of Pathan’s plea.

The HC had noted that as per past orders, the PIL has not been heard on its admissibility. As the petitioner sought time to enable him to address the court on the question of admission of the PIL, the court adjourned the hearing on the matter.