Aaditya Thackeray denies link to Disha Salian after CBI files fresh FIR
Aaditya Thackeray says he never met Disha Salian and calls attempts to link him to the case character assassination, after the CBI registered a fresh FIR.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Wednesday rejected any connection to Disha Salian, saying he had never met her or known her, and described the repeated linking of his name to the case as a deliberate attempt at character assassination.
His statement followed the Central Bureau of Investigation's decision to register a fresh FIR in connection with Salian's death, acting on a direction from the Bombay High Court for a thorough probe.
Writing on X, Thackeray said the allegations against him had been recycled for nearly six years without evidence. "I have never met or known Disha Salian. Linking my name to this tragic case constantly is a deliberate, evidence-free attempt at character assassination by a few individuals with clear political and personal motives," he said.
In a second post, he reiterated that he had neither met Salian nor shared any acquaintance with her, and accused certain people of repeatedly dragging him into the matter for political and personal reasons despite what he called the absence of any evidence or connection.
Thackeray also urged that the renewed inquiry be allowed to proceed without interference. He said loud television debates and media trials could not alter facts, and asked that the official machinery be permitted to conduct the investigation afresh, impartially and without political intervention or character assassination.
He added that such attempts would not deter him from standing by the truth.
Advocate Nilesh Ojha, representing Salian's father Satish Salian, said the CBI's FIR names Thackeray along with Rohan Roy, Rhea Chakraborty, Param Bir Singh, Dino Morea, Sooraj Pancholi, then DCP Vishal Thakur, the police inspector of Malwani police station, members of the SIT, a doctor and a chemical analyst.
Salian, who worked as manager to actor Sushant Singh Rajput, died in Mumbai in June 2020 after falling from a building. Her death was initially recorded as an accidental death case. The CBI is now conducting a fresh investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death.