Mumbai: The Shiv Sena (UBT) lashed out at BJP after the CBI reportedly concluded that the death of Disha Salian, the talent manager of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput, was an accident.

CBI sources, however, said they had not registered any case or carried out any specific probe into Salian’s death. Sources, however, said as part of the probe into Rajput’s death they had conducted some inquiry as she was his talent manager, but did not arrive at any conclusion.

Salian was found dead in June 2020 after falling from a high rise in Malad. Union minister Narayan Rane had claimed it being discussed that Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray, then a state minister, was involved in the case. Both Rane and his son MLA Nitesh Rane had claimed that Salian had been raped and killed.

When contacted, Aaditya Thackeray merely said, “I do not want to get involved in this dirty politics. I do not want to fall into this mud. The report is a response to those who made allegations.”

However, his party was combative. “BJP leaders and its women leaders should immediately ask for Aaditya Thackeray’s forgiveness. Why did they try to ruin the reputation of a young leader?” asked Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut.

Sena leader Arvind Sawant said, “. . . They tried to destroy his [Aaditya’s] reputation. Now this is a slap in their face. Having said that, Salian’s death was sad and unfortunate.”

NCP leader Supriya Sule also spoke out. “Such low-level politics was never seen in Maharashtra. They tried to destroy a family. This kind of thing goes against Maharashtra’s culture.”

Leader of Opposition inthe state assembly Ajit Pawar, however, refused to comment on this issue. “I have not seen the CBI report. . . Let it make the report public, then I will comment on it,” he said.

BJP’s Nitesh Rane hit back and claimed evidence had been destroyed by the police in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) regime in the “master of all cover ups”. He tweeted, “I don’t blame CBI for its observations in the Salian case. CBI entered only after 72 days. From June 8, the cleanup was done so well with the help of the MVA government that by the time CBI entered, nothing much could be recovered.”

In March, Nitesh had told the state assembly that he had a pen drive containing statements from an eyewitness to Salian’s “murder”. He had said in the assembly, “The pen drive has an eyewitness who tells us that a state minister was involved. . . Salian was raped and killed.”