New Delhi: Aaditya Thackeray, a Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA, has filed a public interest lawsuit asking the Bombay High Court to open a CBI investigation into the deaths of actor Sushant Singh Rajput and his former manager Disha Salian. In the petition submitted on October 13 by lawyer Rahul Arote, Thackeray argued that the PIL was not maintainable because state authorities were already looking into the situation.
The Supreme Court & High Court Litigants Association of India's president, Rashid Khan Pathan, filed the PIL in September of this year, asking for Thackeray's immediate arrest and custodial investigation in relation to the "mysterious" deaths of Disha Salian and Sushant Singh Rajput. The PIL has not yet been scheduled for a hearing before the High Court.
“We have filed an intervention application saying we should be heard before any order is passed. We have said the PIL is not maintainable as the investigation in Sushant Singh Rajput matter is already on by CBI,” Arote said.
“How can any order be passed in a PIL when a state machinery is already seized of the probe,” he added.
In the PIL, it was asked that Thackeray, a former Maharashtra minister, undergo probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and that an in-depth report be submitted.
Sushant Singh Rajput's body was found at his flat in the Bandra suburbs on June 14, 2020. The actor's father filed a complaint with the Bihar police in July, saying that Rajput's girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty and her family members abetted in his suicide. Meanwhile, Mumbai police filed an Accidental Death Report (ADR) case and started an investigation. Later, the case was handed over to the CBI, which is currently conducting an investigation in the city.
On the other hand, Disha Salian, a former manager of Rajput, passed away on June 8, 2020, after falling from the 14th floor of an apartment in the Malad region. An ADR case had been filed by the city police.