BJP’s Nitesh Rane demands ouster of investigation officer in Disha Salian case

BJP legislator Nitesh Rane has demanded the removal of police officer Chimaji Aadhav from the SIT investigating the death of Disha Salian due to his previous involvement in the case. Rane alleges that Aadhav was responsible for a "shoddy investigation" and wrongly submitted a closure report. A Bombay high court ruling from 2004 is cited to support Rane's claim. The Mumbai police appointed the SIT to reinvestigate the death of Disha, who was the manager of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Rane claims that Aadhav's involvement renders the SIT "null and void and vitiated."

MUMBAI: BJP legislator Nitesh Rane has demanded that Chimaji Aadhav, a police officer on the special investigation team (SIT) probing the death of celebrity manager Disha Salian be removed due to his “earlier connection with the case”.

HT Image

Alleging that Aadhav was responsible for the “shoddy investigation” and wrongly submitting a closure report, Rane has written a letter to special police commissioner Deven Bharati and additional police commissioner Rajeev Jain (north division) to have him dropped. The police, however, said that Aadhav was not at the Malwani police station when the case was registered.

Rane has cited a Bombay high court case of 2004, in which the court passed strictures against the police for appointing officers from the same police station to investigate a disputed case. “The Malwani police station submitted a sham closure report after a shoddy investigation (in the Disha case),” states Rane in his letter. “The case was closed by showing it as an accidental death.

The Mumbai police appointed the SIT on the directive of the state government to reinvestigate the death of Disha, who fell to her death from the 14th floor of a Malad building on June 14, 2020. Disha was the manager of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, who was found dead in his flat eight days later.

Rane has further stated that since Aadhav is not qualified to be part of the SIT, the panel per se has become “null and void and vitiated”. The MLA cited the Supreme Court verdict in the 2011 State of Punjab Vs Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar case to buttress his claim.

Rane had been terming the death of Disha a murder in which a Shiv Sena (UBT) leader was involved. The state government last week formed the three-member SIT headed by Jain and with Ajay Bansal (DCP, Zone 12) and Aadhav on it. The Malwani police have already begun the investigation.

Rane maintained that the case could not be investigated by officers facing allegations of botching it up. “Aadhav and two other officers investigated the case and their role is dubious,” he said. “Two pages from the visitors book and CCTV footage of the building where the incident happened have gone missing, bringing the investigation under a cloud of suspicion. In such a scenario, the same officer cannot continue on the SIT.” Rane added that he had taken up the issue with the ‘appropriate authorities’ and Aadhav would soon be dropped from the team.

According to police officers, however, Aadhav was not in Malwani police station when the death case was registered, and was transferred there in June this year. Meanwhile, the SIT had already started the investigation. After the inquiry, the Malwani police station closed the case, declaring Disha’s death as an accident a few months after the incident.