Why a Bollywood celebrity manager's 2020 death case has been reopened

Why a Bollywood celebrity manager's 2020 death case has been reopened

Disha Salian was the manager of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

On 4 June 2020, as a deadly Covid-19 wave spread across India, celebrity manager Disha Salian asked her father, Satish Salian, to ring a police helpline to find out whether it was safe for her to travel.

She was thrilled about an advertising campaign she was due to shoot and showed her parents a photo of the cheque she had received as advance payment.

As she left home, she told her parents she would be back in two days.

That was the last time the Salians saw their 28-year-old daughter alive.

In the early hours of 8 and 9 June, Satish Salian was summoned by police to a hospital, where he was told that his only child had died.

Police said she had fallen from the 12th floor of a building in Mumbai, in the western city.

Disha's friends at the hospital said she had been drinking alcohol and had fallen by accident.

Police later said their probe had found 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 investigate Disha's death again.

The court's order followed a petition filed last year by Satish Salian, who had maintained from the beginning that his daughter's death was neither suicide nor accident and alleged that she had been gang-raped and murdered.

His claims that some senior police officers had destroyed evidence and built a false suicide narrative to shield ministers and influential politicians allegedly involved in the crime have made it one of India's most widely discussed deaths in recent years.

The judges stressed that they were not conducting "a mini trial" but said "the investigation carried out by the police raises more questions than it answers".

They noted the unexplained delay in police paperwork, the absence of blood at the place where the body landed, and said the injuries described in the post-mortem report did not appear consistent with a fall.

"We find this difficult to accept," they wrote.

One of the court's strongest criticisms was that police had treated it only as a suspicious or unnatural death and had not filed an FIR (First Information Report) - the document police must prepare when they receive information about a crime.

Satish Salian's allegations remain allegations for now, but they have led to a fresh CBI investigation, with the agency registering an FIR last week on the basis of his written complaint.

Summing up Satish Salian's claims, 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.

"It's such devastating news. My deepest condolences to Disha's family and friends. May your soul rest in peace," he wrote.

In the beginning, Disha's death drew little attention until less than a week later, Rajput himself was found dead at his home.

Police also ruled his death a suicide, saying he had mental health problems and was under treatment.

But weeks later, his actress girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty was arrested after Rajput's father accused her of contributing to his suicide. He also denied that his son had any mental health issues.

After public outrage, Sushant's case was also transferred to the CBI, which last year closed the case, saying he had indeed died by suicide and that neither Chakraborty nor her family had any role in his death.

In the FIR Satish Salian has filed with the CBI, he has alleged that Disha's and Rajput's deaths are connected.

He says Disha shared with the actor "incriminating and objectionable information concerning alleged drug trafficking, child abuse and other unlawful activities" involving a former minister and others, and that the two planned to hold a press conference to make it public.

"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 registering the FIR "does not imply any finding of guilt against anyone" and that no-one would be treated as an accused unless the investigating officer found "sufficient grounds to raise reasonable suspicion against them".

But because 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 political power being misused, denials and claims of political vendetta.

Satish Salian, who has spent six years fighting for justice for his daughter, says he has felt "some peace" after the court ordered a 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".

He says his wife has been unable to accept her tragic death and has fallen 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.