Shinde Sena seeks Aaditya Thackeray’s resignation in Disha Salian death case

Proceedings of the Maharashtra Assembly had to be briefly suspended on Wednesday after Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad demanded that Aaditya Thackeray must resign as MLA on moral grounds, after Disha Salian’s father Satish Salian sought fresh investigations into her death, naming Aaditya Thackeray as the main accused.

The development came days after Satish Salian, the father of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s manager Disha Salian, moved the Bombay High Court and sought fresh investigations into her death which was allegedly the result of a “gangrape and murder” as well as a subsequent “cover-up”, which allegedly involved Aaditya Thackeray and his father Uddhav Thackeray, who was Chief Minister of Maharashtra in 2020, when Disha Salian was found dead.

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Disha Salian (28) died on June 8, 2020, supposedly after a fall from the 14th floor of Galaxy Regent building at Malad, just six days before Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput (34) died by suicide at his rented duplex flat in Mont Blanc building at Bandra. Several BJP leaders had claimed that both the murders are linked to each other. Last week, the CBI had filed a closure report involving the case of Sushant Singh Rajput.

In the Maharashtra legislative assembly, tempers flared up after Shinde-led Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad raised the matter through a point of order saying, “Disha’s father has named Aaditya Thackeray in connection with the death of Disha Salian.” Gaikwad compared it with the recent resignation of Ajit Pawar-led NCP leader Dhananjay Munde from the cabinet after his close aide Valmik Karad was arrested in connection with the murder of Massajog village official Santosh Deshmukh.

Gaikwad insisted that Aaditya Thackeray too must resign from his position as an MLA on moral grounds.

Gaikwad’s demand for Aaditya Thackeray’s resignation as MLA led to a commotion in the Maharashtra legislative assembly after ruling Mahayuti MLAs rushed to the well of the house shouting slogans. This led Speaker Rahul Narwekar to adjourn proceedings for ten minutes.

Speaking in the legislative assembly, BJP MLA Ram Kadam demanded that the SIT must probe the role of the Uddhav Thackeray-led government in the Sushant Singh Rajput case. Kadam said, “When Sushant Singh Rajput died, it was the Covid era. Some leaders were speaking in favour of Sushant Singh Rajput’s girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty. The flat in which Sushant Singh Rajput died should have been kept intact for investigation. Instead, the Uddhav Thackeray government hastily returned the flat to its original owner after painting the flat and all the furniture was removed in 68 days.

“Did they want to destroy the evidence? If they had no intention of lying from the first day, why didn’t they hand over this case to the CBI? Why was the Bihar police stopped from investigating the case? After 68 days, when the case was handed over to the CBI for investigation, had all the evidence been destroyed by then? Whom did Uddhav Thackeray want to save?”

After assembly proceedings resumed ten minutes later, Gaikwad demanded Aaditya Thackeray’s resignation once again and asked the government to issue a statement about the matter. Responding to Gaikwad, Minister for Mining Shambhuraj Desai clarified that the decision to resign rested solely with the respective party concerned, which in this case is the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena.

“If someone has to resign, it needs to be done on moral grounds. However, the government’s stance remains clear that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to probe Disha Salian’s death is still in the process of conducting its inquiry. Once the investigation is complete, necessary action will be taken. No one will be spared,” Shambhurah Desai told the assembly.

Responding to Disha Salian’s father seeking fresh investigations and an FIR against him, Aaditya Thackeray dismissed the development as a political ploy intended to tarnish his image. “We will present our side before the court,” Aaditya Thackeray told media persons on Wednesday.

Significantly, a couple of days ago, Disha’s father Satish Salian and his lawyer Nilesh Ojha had visited the Mumbai Police headquarters at Crawford Market and filed a complaint against Aaditya Thackeray and others.

“The accused are former minister and MLA Aaditya Thackeray, Bollywood actor Dino Morea, actor Suraj Pancholi and his bodyguard, then Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, a dismissed police official Sachin Vaze and actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty,” Salian’s lawyer Nilesh Ojha had stated.

Salian’s lawyer Ojha had alleged that Aaditya Thackeray is the main accused in the alleged “gangrape and murder” of Disha Salian, while then Mumbai Police Commissioner Parambir Singh allegedly ensured a “cover-up” at the behest of then Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

“We submitted a written complaint, which is an FIR, to Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Lakhmi Gautam who spoke to Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar after which the complaint was accepted,” Satish Salian’s lawyer Nilesh Ojha had stated, adding that they have already moved the Bombay High Court.

Lawyer Nilesh Ojha alleged that “Aaditya Thackeray and Dino Morea are involved in the narcotic drugs trade. There’s a big nexus and there are many things which led to Disha Salian’s murder. So we’ve given all the information in the FIR. The Narcotics Control Bureau’s (NCB) investigation has proved that Aaditya Thackeray was involved in the narcotics business, and that detail has been mentioned in this FIR”.

When asked about the FIR, lawyer Nilesh Ojha said, “This submission has been made in strict compliance with the legal procedure laid down by the Bombay High Court in the case of Sudhir M Vora vs Commissioner of Police for Greater Bombay, 2004, wherein it was held that when police officers themselves are among the accused, a written complaint must be submitted directly to the Commissioner of Police, and such complaint has to be treated as an FIR by the police and its investigation should be transferred to an independent agency”.