Aaditya Thackeray responds to Satish Salian's notice, refutes allegation of defamation

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Wednesday refused to apologise to Satish Salian, late celebrity manager Disha Salian's father who sent him a ₹500 crore defamation notice last week, and dismissed his allegations as "frivolous".

His social media posts did not even mention Satish Salian, Thackeray said in his reply sent through advocate Anshuman Sinha.

Satish Salian sent the Sena (UBT) MLA a notice on September 17 alleging that Thackeray had defamed him in two posts published in English and Marathi on X the previous day.

"My client's posts addressed the sustained campaign by political actors, vested interests and sections of the media that have repeatedly linked his name with this tragic case without placing verified evidence in the two SIT investigations," Aaditya's reply said, adding that he had made no defamatory statement about Satish Salian.

"The real concern is the political use being made of this tragedy by persons seeking to advance their own agenda," it said.

Thackeray firmly stood by his earlier public statement that he had never met or known Disha Salian, the reply said.

It also pointed out that Satish Salian's statement immediately after his daughter's death in 2020 and at later stages appeared to be materially inconsistent.

"Let the official re-investigation proceed," it said, adding that the CBI should conduct its probe independently.

No apology or payment of compensation was called for, the reply said.

Disha, 28, who had briefly worked as actor Sushant Singh Rajput's manager, died on June 8, 2020, after falling from the 12th floor of a residential building in Mumbai's Malad area.

A week later, Rajput was found dead in his Bandra apartment, triggering speculation about a possible link between the two deaths.

The city police had registered an accidental death report and subsequently claimed, after an inquiry, that Disha died by suicide.

The CBI recently registered an FIR in the case following the Bombay High Court's direction with a clear instruction not to name anyone as an accused.