Why a Bollywood celebrity manager’s 2020 death case has been reopened
BBC
On 4 June 2020, as a deadly wave of Covid-19 swept through India, celebrity manager Disha Salian asked her father Satish Salian to call a police helpline to check if it was safe for her to travel.
She was excited about an advertising campaign she was going to shoot and showed her parents a photo of the cheque she had received as advance remuneration.
As she walked out of the door, she told her parents that she would be back in two days.
It was the last time the Salians saw their 28-year-old daughter alive.
On the intervening night of 8 and 9 June, Satish Salian was called by the police to a hospital where he learnt that his only child was dead.
Police said she had fallen from the 12th floor of a building in the western city of Mumbai.
Disha’s friends at the hospital said she had been drinking alcohol and fell accidentally.
Police later said their investigation had shown that her death was a suicide.
But earlier this month, the Bombay High Court ordered the federal police – the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) – to reopen the case and reinvestigate Disha’s death.
The court order came after a petition filed last year by Satish Salian, who had insisted from the start that his daughter’s death was not a suicide or an accident and alleged that she was gang-raped and murdered.
His allegations that some senior police officers had destroyed evidence and created a false story of suicide to protect some ministers and influential politicians who had a role in the alleged crime has made it one of India’s most discussed deaths in recent years.
In the order on 2 September, Judges Sarang V Kotwal and Ranjitsinha Raja Bhonsale criticised the police and said there were “too many glaring discrepancies” in their investigation, which was carried out in two phases over more than six years.
The judges insisted that they were not holding “a mini trial” but said “the investigation carried out by the police raises more questions than it answers”.
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They pointed out the unexplained delay in police paperwork, that no blood had been found at the spot where the body had fallen and said that the injuries mentioned in the post-mortem report did not seem consistent with a fall.
“We find this difficult to accept,” they wrote.
One of the biggest criticisms from the court was that the police had only investigated it as a case of suspicious or unnatural death and not registered an FIR (First Information Report) – a document police have to prepare when they receive information about a crime.
Satish Salian’s accusations are only allegations so far, but they have formed the basis of a new investigation by the CBI, which last week registered an FIR based on a written complaint from him.
The BBC has reviewed this FIR and read through the court order in the case.
Summarising Satish Salian’s allegations, the court order said that at the time of her death, Disha was working with Kwan Entertainment – a celebrity management company – and represented Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
“She got to know about some objectionable activities of the powerful people. She gave that information to Rajput, who innocently divulged that to others. Ultimately that information reached back those people and she was murdered to silence her,” it added.
Rajput mourned her death in an Instagram story. “It’s such devastating news. My deepest condolences to Disha’s family and friends. May your soul rest in peace,” he wrote.
In the initial days, Disha’s death went largely unnoticed until less than a week later, Rajput himself was found dead in his home.
Police also ruled his death to be a case of suicide, saying he had mental health issues for which he was under treatment.
But weeks later, his actress girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty was arrested following accusations from Rajput’s father that she had contributed to his suicide. He also denied that his son had any mental health issues.
Following outrage, Sushant’s case was also handed over to the CBI which, last year, closed the case, saying he had indeed died by suicide and that neither Chakraborty nor her family had a role in his death.
In the FIR Satish Salian has registered with the CBI, he has alleged that the deaths of Disha and Rajput are linked.
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Disha, he says, shared with the actor “incriminating and objectionable information concerning alleged drug trafficking, child abuse and other unlawful activities” involving a former minister and some others and the two intended to hold a press conference to bring it into the public domain.
“In order to prevent that and protect the persons involved, a well-orchestrated criminal conspiracy was hatched. The victim was gang raped and murdered, and thereafter evidence was suppressed /fabricated and a false story of suicide was created to cover up the crimes and shield the accused.”
In its order, the court said that registration of the FIR “does not imply any finding of guilt against anyone” and that no-one shall be treated as an accused unless the investigating officer finds “sufficient grounds to raise reasonable suspicion against them”.
But as the FIR names some of the state’s top politicians, police officers and Bollywood actors, the case has dominated headlines in India amid allegations of misuse of political power, denials and claims of political vendetta.
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- Sushant Singh Rajput: Rhea Chakraborty on ‘media trial’ after Bollywood star’s death
Satish Salian, who’s been fighting for six years to get justice for his daughter, says he’s felt “some peace” after the court ordered the fresh investigation into her death.
Disha, he told the BBC, was “very bright, she did well in her studies and read a lot. She had a heart of gold and was very helpful. She was our only child and she loved us very much”.
His wife, he says, has been unable to come to terms with her tragic death and has gone into depression.
“I want the death penalty for those who hurt my daughter. Those who inflicted pain on her must die a painful death too. That is what justice for Disha would look like to me,” he says.
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