SC adjourns hearing after non-appearance of lawyer on PIL seeking court-monitored CBI probe in Disha Salian's death

The Supreme Court on 12 October expressed displeasure over the non-appearance of a lawyer in a PIL seeking court-monitored CBI enquiry into the death of Disha Salian, former manager of late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

"Nobody appearing in this matter? Last time also no one appeared. What should we do? We said last time that you should consider going to the Bombay HC," a bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde observed.

“List after Dussehra Holidays,” the bench, also comprising Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, said and adjourned the matter.

The top court was hearing a plea filed by advocate Puneet Dhanda claiming that both the deaths are interconnected as they occurred under suspicious circumstances.

“It is after the death of Sushant Singh Rajput, various rumours and conspiracy theories have been linked between the deaths of Disha and Sushant, because both died in suspicious circumstances and at the peak of their successful professional career,” the plea said.

The PIL said that if the top court, after perusal of the investigation report by the Mumbai police, finds it unsatisfactorily then the matter be referred to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for further investigation.

Disha, 28, died on 8 June after falling off the 14th floor of a residential building in Malad (west) Mumbai.

Rajput, aged 34, was found hanging from the ceiling of his apartment in suburban Bandra in Mumbai on 14 June and since then the Mumbai police has been probing the case keeping in mind various angles.

Advocate Vineet Dhanda, who was to argue the matter, later said he appeared in the proceedings but could not join due to technical glitch.

"I had appeared on both the dates. I was in touch with the court moderator also. Since morning I was watching Court proceedings but the video and audio were blocked from Supreme Court technical team,” Dhandha told PTI.