Disha Salian’s mother hands over a letter to Mayor Kishori Pednekar and members of the Maharashtra State Commission for Women at their home. Pic/Twitter

Celebrity manager Disha Salian’s death in June 2020 continues to be a bone of contention between the Shiv Sena and BJP, even as her parents have issued a warning that politicians will be held responsible if their harassment leads them to taking their own lives. Vasanti and Satish Salian spoke to the media on Tuesday after BJP legislator Nitesh Rane hinted at the involvement of Sachin Waze in Disha’s death.

Refuting politics in the case, state BJP president Chandrakant Patil said that all evidence of ‘murder’ will come out after March 7.

The Salians spoke after Mayor Kishori Pednekar and two members of the Maharashtra State Commission for Women visited their Dadar home on Tuesday. The couple handed the commission members a complaint of harassment by the people who have raked up the death yet again. On Monday, the commission asked the Malwani police to file a report in the case. 

Pednekar had lodged a complaint against Nitesh Rane’s Union minister father, Narayan Rane, with the commission. The senior Rane had alleged last week that Disha was raped before she was killed last year. He also alleged that actor Sushant Singh Rajput was murdered because he had identified Disha’s killers and vowed to nail them. He had mentioned Waze, hinting that the ex-cop could become an approver in the case.

Disha’s parents urged politicians to leave them alone. “You don’t understand our grief. Nothing had happened to our only daughter. She was upset after losing some business deals and took the extreme step of suicide,” said Vasanti, adding, “Stop spreading lies and harassing us. Our lives have turned into hell. Spare us, please. Politicians will be responsible if we do something drastic to ourselves.”

Maharashtra State Commission for Women chairperson Rupali Chakankar said the commission has asked the Mumbai police to submit a report in two days including Disha’s postmortem report, a copy of the FIR, and other documents related to the case. 

Pednekar said the accusers didn’t trust the investigating agency, the CBI, and Disha’s post-mortem report. “Instead of making statements in the news media and social media, they should submit evidence to the investigators. Let there be a probe. Let the truth come out,” she said. 

Nitesh Rane took to Twitter early Tuesday morning alleging a cover-up. “Disha was apparently taken 2 her Malad home in a black Merc on the 8th night from the party. Sachin Waze also owned a black Merc which is with the investigation agencies now. Is it the same car? He was reinstated in the police department on the 9th of June. Connection?”

He said the mayor’s complaint and the commission’s demand for a police report was a cover-up. “N because the Malvani police station didn’t do a free n fair investigation the case was given to the CBI.. right? N now the same police station is been asked to submit a report by the state women commission? How fair is that? Who r they trying to save?” he tweeted. Later in the day, he said he was fighting to get Disha justice and hoped that the mayor’s visit wasn’t aimed at pressuring her parents.

State BJP chief Chandrakant Patil promised a mega-exposé in the case next month. “There is no politics. The truth in the Disha Salian case will be out after March 7. All evidence will be given. It will be clear who will go to jail. Some people are buying courage and using bad language. It is like the fluttering of a lamp before it goes off.”

Disha, 28, died allegedly by suicide in Malad on June 8, 2020, six days before actor Sushant Singh Rajput was found hanging at his Bandra apartment.

More than a year after the city police busted a racket to inflate social media followers of celebrities and influential persons, the Crime Branch has filed a 446-page chargesheet, saying singer Aditya Prateek Singh aka Badshah paid Rs 74 lakh to get 72 lakh views for a video. One of the accused has said that there was nothing illegal in what he did.

The charge sheet has 11 panchs, 25 witnesses and names five accused four of whom were arrested. Badshah and Koena Mitra have been shown as witnesses apart from those of officials of Chtrbox, Qyuki Digital Media Pvt Ltd and Sony Music India. The case came to light in July 2020 after singer Bhumi Trivedi filed a complaint with the Mumbai police saying that some unknown person had created a fake ID in her name on Instagram. The case was transferred to the Crime Intelligence Unit led by now-dismissed cop Sachin Waze.

In his statement to Waze, Badshah said that he was associated with Sony Music India Company under an agreement. He recorded a song “Pagal Hai” and gave it to Sony Music India, which Sony was about to air on his YouTube channel. Badshah told Sony that if this song got 72 lakh views in 24 hours, then it would be recorded. Badshah in a statement to the Crime Branch said, “I paid Rs 74,26,370 [Including 18% GST] to Qyuki Digital Media Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, towards the Google Adword Campaign for the promotion of said song.This was done as per verbal communication with Pawanesh Pajnu, Sony Music India.”

In this case, Mahendra Patel, the CFO of Qyuki Digital Media Pvt Ltd, told the Crime Branch in a statement that his company works for the promotion of video content of ready advertisements. “For the promotion of Badshah’s Song Pagal Hai, Jai Mehta of Sony Music approached our company. Our company promoted Badshah’s song Pagal Hai on YouTube and in return, Rs 74,26,370 was charged from Badshah along with GST.”

Sanujit Bhujbal, senior director, marketing, Sony Music India, said in a statement that the work of influencer marketing was given to Qyuki Digital Media Pvt Ltd on behalf of Sony Music Company for the promotion of Badshah’s song. One of the accused, Premendra Sharma, who is an ethical hacker and a bug bounty hunter, told mid-day that 7-8 people’s followers were increased through him. Apart from Sharma, the other accused are Abhishek Dawde, Kasif Mansoor, and Vijay Banthiya and Tabish Ali Mir, who is absconding.

Accused Mansoor told mid-day, “No action has been taken against those who have increased their followers. Celebrities who are confessing that they have increased fake followers have not been taken to task. We were working only on a commission basis.”

The alleged scamsters apparently used a technique called “click farming” to inflate the follower count of celebrities. The method uses an automated programing interface, commonly known as API, file. Through API files, dormant social accounts are targeted to boost a client’s followers.