Disha Salian death case: Why did police not lodge FIR, asks HC

The Bombay High Court on Monday asked what stopped the police from investigating the death of former celebrity manager Disha Salian when her father raised suspicion about the circumstances in which she died in 2020.

A bench of Justices Bharti Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande also questioned how, according to the postmortem report, the victim showed no injuries despite falling from a height of 14 floors. 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 had subsequently registered an Accidental Death Report (ADR). While the police, after conducting an inquiry, claimed that she died by suicide, her father Satish Salian filed a petition in HC last year, alleging his daughter was gang raped and murdered.

On Monday, when the plea came up for hearing before the HC bench, it sought to know from the police why no FIR had been lodged instead of treating the case as an accidental death inquiry.

“If somebody, in this case the victim’s father, raises suspicion on the circumstances in which the death occurred, what stopped the police from registering an FIR and investigating it?” the HC asked.

Public prosecutor Shishir Hiray told the court that the case was treated as accidental death and inquiries were conducted twice, and both times the inference was that it was a case of suicide.

“This was supported by the statements given by the witnesses in the case,” he said. The bench also questioned how, as per the postmortem report, the victim did not suffer any injuries despite falling from a height. “If a person falls from a height of 14 floors, wouldn’t there be any injuries to the body?” Justice Dangre asked.

Hiray said as per the photographs, there were head injuries to the victim’s body.

Satish Salian’s advocate Nilesh Ojha alleged that the initial photographs shown to him by the police indicated no such injuries.

“The police then fabricated these photos showing head injuries,” he claimed.

The high court also rapped the police for not providing certain case-related documents, including the ADR, to the petitioner.

“As per the police, there is no FIR and hence no probe going on. When only an accidental death inquiry is being conducted and the police’s inference is suicide, what is stopping them from giving certain innocuous documents to the petitioner?” the court asked. The bench posted the matter for further hearing on August 24.

Satish Salian had sought a CBI probe into his daughter’s death and registration of an FIR against Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray.

In the 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.

Disha Salian had briefly served as manager for actor Sushant Singh Rajput, who died by suicide on June 14, 2020.