Disha Salian died in June 2020.

A young talent manager working in Bollywood, she tragically fell to her death from the 12th storey of a flat in Mumbai on the intervening night of June 8 and 9, 2020.

But the claims surrounding the death of the 28-year-old refuse to die. 

Despite multiple months-long investigations, CCTV and medical evidence, and witness testimonies that categorically state otherwise, the same lurid claims that she was raped, murdered, that she attended a party with high-profile figures, that her death was linked to the suicide of actor Sushant Singh Rajput a few days later and that she was naked when her body was discovered recirculate periodically, on social media and on TV channels. 

This time, there is a new twist in this already convoluted sequence of events.

Satish Salian spent five years after the sudden death of his daughter, Disha, trying his best to quash these rumours. He and his wife, Vasanti, would tell anyone who would listen – family members, friends, neighbours and journalists – that these claims were simply not true. 

Instead of being left to grieve the death of their only child in peace, they found themselves repeating the following, over and over:

Their daughter was not raped. 

No celebrity was connected to their daughter’s death - not film stars, not politicians and not Sushant Singh Rajput, who died by suicide a few days later.

Their daughter was not Rajput’s manager.

Most importantly, they did not suspect any foul play in Disha’s death.

Mumbai Police had closed the case in February 2021 after an eight-month investigation, treating the death as accidental and concluding in its report that she died by suicide. In 2023, the Maharashtra government set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to re-examine the allegations. It, too, found no evidence of foul play. The SIT had even summoned some of those who had alleged a conspiracy to record their statements – but they did not appear.

Then in 2025, Satish Salian filed a petition making the very allegations he spent five years trying to refute, giving the charges a new lease of life. Acting on his petition, the Bombay High Court in September 2026 directed the CBI to investigate the case. The agency registered an FIR, forming a special team for a fresh probe. The case, and the claims that have persistently trailed it, are once again back in the headlines.

What lies behind Satish Salian’s volte face? And what are the implications of the reopening of this high-profile case which had been rife with claims, counter-claims and rampant misreporting – especially for those who bore witness to some of the events? 

A father’s U-turn

“There is CCTV footage of Disha’s last two days – it shows she didn’t leave the flat, except to take out the garbage... And nobody else entered their flat apart from those four friends… The police have also shown us her movements of the last six months, gathered from her phone... They have proved all this, that’s why we trust the police.”