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By:

Abhijit Mulye

21 August 2024 at 4:59:11 pm

Marathwada on boil

Mumbai: Emboldened by his fiery stance, local coordination committees issued an ultimatum to the administration, declaring a complete Marathwada Bandh for Thursday, with voluntary shut-downs already paralyzing towns across Latur, Nanded, and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. While essential services are expected to function, wholesale agricultural markets, commercial centres, government establishments, and educational institutions face forced closures. In dozens of ham-lets across Marathwada,...

Marathwada on boil

Mumbai: Emboldened by his fiery stance, local coordination committees issued an ultimatum to the administration, declaring a complete Marathwada Bandh for Thursday, with voluntary shut-downs already paralyzing towns across Latur, Nanded, and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. While essential services are expected to function, wholesale agricultural markets, commercial centres, government establishments, and educational institutions face forced closures. In dozens of ham-lets across Marathwada, villagers erected banners banning politicians from entering, declaring a complete boycott of elected leaders until statutory reservation is codified. Faced with escalating turmoil, the state machinery initiated high-level consultations to defuse the standoff. The Cabinet sub-committee on Maratha reservation met in Mumbai before key minis-ters travelled to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, attempting to open negotiation channels with Antarwali Sarati. Administrative emissaries and local legislators were sent to the protest site to persuade Jarange to accept medical aid, assuring him that administrative hurdles were being dismantled. Speaking to reporters, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, Chairman of the Cabinet sub-committee, em-phasized that the administration was actively awaiting a breakthrough. “We are waiting for their response. We shall immediately go to Antarwali Sarati if they indicate possibility of discussion over the draft,” he said. The minister further explained that as per demands the authorities had already furnished a pen drive containing 58 lakh Kunbi caste records to the agitators, noting that the procedure to grant certificates based on the historical Hyderabad Gazetteer has com-menced, with 3,300 certificates already distributed. Vikhe-Patil also gave assurances that dedi-cated divisional camps would soon be set up across Maharashtra to expedite all pending applica-tions. Simultaneously, the Chief Minister reiterated the state’s commitment to an equitable resolution while appealing for restraint. “We appeal to Manoj Jarange Patil to prioritize his health and coop-erate with medical teams. Street violence and blocking highways will only cause hardship to or-dinary citizens, farmers, and students. Dialogue remains the only viable path to an enduring solu-tion,” he said. Despite these administrative assurances, the rift between the agitators’ demand for an immedi-ate blanket notification and the government’s procedural constraints remains wide. With youth staging relay fasts outside district collectorates and activists threatening an en masse march to Mumbai, Maharashtra stands on a delicate precipice as law enforcement braces for Thursday’s region-wide shutdown. Addressing the swelling crowds at his protest marquee on Wednesday afternoon, Jarange issued an unsparing warning to the government. “The government has tested our patience enough. We are not sitting here to beg for char-ity; we are demanding our constitutional right that was denied for generations,” Jarange told the gathering. “If a sin-gle drop of blood is spilt or if anything happens to my life, the government alone will bear the responsibility for the fury that follows across Maharashtra. We will not take a single step backward until the notification is in our hands.”

HC orders CBI to probe Disha Salian’s death

Her father has named Aaditya Thackeray as an accused in the case


Mumbai Police’s clean chit to accused likely to be investigated

Disha’s father Satish Salian outside Bombay High Court in Mumbai on Wednesday. Pic: Bhushan Koyande
Disha’s father Satish Salian outside Bombay High Court in Mumbai on Wednesday. Pic: Bhushan Koyande

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the death of Bollywood celeb manager Disha Salian in June 2020 – a week before her client and actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s passing – here on Wednesday.


A division bench comprising Justice S. V. Kotwal and Justice R. R. Bhonsale asked the CBI to name a suitable experienced officer and to register a FIR based on a complaint filed by her father Satish Salian.


The court also suggested the agency to keep an open mind on the probe into the high profile and sensitive case while making it clear that the registering a FIR does not imply finding a guilt against anyone.


“Nobody shall be treated as an accused unless, in the opinion of the investigating officer, there are sufficient grounds to raise reasonable suspicion against him, depending on the material collected during the investigation,” said Justice Kotwal and Justice Bhonsale’s order.


Salian died on June 8, 2020, after falling from the 14th floor of a residential building in Malad after which the Mumbai Police filed an Accidental Death Report in 2021, concluding it was a suicide.


A week later on June 14, 2020, Rajput was found hanging in the bedroom of his Bandra rented flat sparking off a major political row. Following intense speculation the police reopened Salian’s case in 2022.


Father’s Plea

Satish Salian moved the high court in 2024 alleging that he was misled and pressured by the police and politicians to accept the ‘suicide’ conclusion.


Alleging gang-rape and murder, he sought an independent CBI probe, filing of FIR against several persons, including Shiv Sena (UBT) Worli MLA Aaditya Thackeray, and claimed that critical forensic and other evidence were not disclosed to Disha’s family.


Accepting his plea, the high court ordered the Mumbai Police to hand over all necessary case papers, physical articles and other evidence to the CBI investigating officer.


Many Doubts

The high court noted how the two-stage police probe went on for almost six years and apparently raised many doubts, hence an investigation by the CBI was necessary. The central agency was directed to delve into all aspects surrounding Disha’s death.


“The CBI shall interact with Salian and his family with sensitivity as they will have to remember the tragic incident in detail. At the same time care should be taken that no innocent person is harassed and the offenders, if any, are made to face the trial,” said the order.


Earlier, the court had questioned the legal validity of the prolonged inquiry without registering an FIR and observed that when subsequent allegations came up, an offence should have been registered, probed and concluded with legal sanctity.


Chief Public Prosecutor Shishir Hiray had defended the procedure, submitting that witness statements and forensic reports ruled out foul play or sexual assault, the initial ADR inquiry was closed within three months, but reopened in 2023 following social media claims.  


Senior Advocate Sudeep Pasbola appeared for Aaditya Thackeray and intervened in the matter, while advocates Nilesh Ojha and Abhishek Mishra represented Salian.


Pasbola contended that (Salian’s) petition arose out of political rivalry against Thackeray and that Salian was “being used as a tool”, and riding on a motivated complaint based on irresponsible media reports.


Plea to President
In March 2022, Satish Salian and his wife Vasanti had sent five-page letters to then President Ramnath Kovind seeking to restrain a BJP union minister (Narayan Rae) and his son (Nitesh N. Rane), for allegedly ‘maligning’ their daughter Disha’s image with ‘fake narratives’ that had made their lives miserable.

The aged couple had also warned that if the concerned authorities failed to take suitable steps, they would be left with no alternative “but to end our lives”. Two years later he moved the high court for a CBI probe which was allowed today.

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