The Bombay High Court has called the Mumbai police’s probe into the death case of Disha Salian – the former manager of actor Sushant Singh Rajput – “futile”, and pulled up the Maharashtra government over several unanswered questions in the investigation.
The Mumbai police had subsequently registered an Accidental Death Report (ADR). The High Court also made it clear that the option of registering an FIR and conducting a formal investigation remains open to the police if circumstances warrant such a course. Disha Salian died on June 8, 2020, after falling off the 14th floor of a residential building in Mumbai’s Malad area. During the hearing, the court scrutinised the Accidental Death Report (ADR) inquiry conducted under Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) – which deals with inquiries into deaths in cases such as suicide, accidents or suspicious circumstances.
after conducting an inquiry, claimed that she died by suicide, her father Satish Salian filed a petition in the High Court last year, alleging his daughter was gang raped and murdered While the police.
The court indicated that the matter should be viewed from the perspective of ensuring that the death is investigated through a legally valid process and that the family receives appropriate closure.
The judges also questioned the utility and legal significance of an inquiry that had continued for several years. “So what is the sanctity of the investigation that you conducted for six years? It is all a waste,” the bench remarked. The court noted that an ADR inquiry has limitations and that statements recorded during such proceedings may not carry the same evidentiary value as material collected during a formal criminal investigation.
