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He died after falling from the 14th floor of a residential building in Malad, north Mumbai, on June 8, 2020, following which the city police registered an Accidental Death Report (ADR) case.
A bench of Justices AS Gadkari and RR Bhosale said that it has been five years since the death and the police just have to find out whether the death was due to suicide or culpable homicide.
The bench’s remarks came after government lawyer Mankhunwar Deshmukh said the investigation into the death was still ongoing.
The court remarked, “Why still investigate? It’s been five years. Someone has died. All you have to do is find out whether it was suicide or culpable homicide.”
Deshmukh told the court that the investigation was being conducted meticulously so that all possibilities could be ruled out.
Disha Salian’s father Satish Salian had filed a petition in the High Court in March this year alleging that his daughter was gang-raped and murdered.
Satish Salian had demanded a CBI inquiry into his daughter’s death and registration of FIR against Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aditya Thackeray.
In the petition, Satish Salian alleged that his daughter was found dead under mysterious circumstances in June 2020. She alleged that she was raped and murdered and later, a political conspiracy was hatched to save some influential persons.
Deshmukh told the bench on Thursday that the police had recorded the statements of the petitioner and his wife on several occasions after the incident and they had clearly said that they had no doubt or apprehension on anyone.
“And now five years later, the father is raising this dispute,” he said.
The court also asked why the police were not handing over to them copies of Satish Salian’s statements and other basic documents related to the investigation, which are admissible under the law.
The court said, “He is the father of the victim.” Any legally acceptable document can be handed over to them.”
The bench fixed the next hearing of the case on December 11, when Deshmukh will have to explain the police’s stand on providing documents to the petitioner.
The court also directed the police to submit the post-mortem report.
Earlier, Aaditya Thackeray had filed an application seeking to intervene in the petition and urged the court to give him time to be heard before passing any order.
Thackeray, in his application, said the petition filed by Satish Salian was false, frivolous and motivated.