Bombay HC orders CBI probe into Disha Salian's death

Bombay High Court on Wednesday ordered the CBI to register an FIR and investigate the June 2020 death of celebrity manager Disha Salian.

A bench of Justices Sarang Kotwal and Ranjitsinha Bhonsale said Mumbai Police's long inquiry under Section 174 of the CrPC was inadequate. The probe ran in two stages for about six years and "raises more questions than it answers," the court wrote. Police had treated the case as an accidental death or suicide after she fell from a high floor of a residential building in suburban Malad.

Salian's father, Satish, had petitioned for a CBI probe. He alleged foul play and said the family was pushed toward a suicide narrative. The court directed a senior CBI officer in Mumbai to record his statement, register the FIR, and examine all aspects of the death. It said nobody should be treated as an accused without enough material for reasonable suspicion.

The judges flagged delayed spot panchnama work, witness accounts that did not match recovered blood evidence, and injury patterns they found hard to reconcile with a straightforward fall. They stressed they had made no finding against any named individual.

Disha Salian briefly managed actor Sushant Singh Rajput, who died days later. The case has sat for years in public argument without a full cognizable-offence investigation. The court is forcing that step now, while warning the agency to protect innocents and treat the family with care.

CBI takes over the papers and physical articles from the local police station. If it finds an offence, it files the usual report. If not, it files a closure report the family can challenge.