Satish Salian, father of late Disha Salian, has sent a Rs 500 crore defamation notice to Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray and NCP (SP) leader Anil Deshmukh, demanding an apology, a retraction of their statements, and damages, and giving them seven days to comply.
The legal notice, sent through advocate Anushka Sonawane, accuses Thackeray and Deshmukh, a former Maharashtra home minister, of making and disseminating "false, malicious and defamatory allegations" against Salian by portraying his pursuit of justice for his deceased daughter as politically motivated.
It further alleges the two falsely claimed the CBI had already investigated the case and given Thackeray a clean chit, and had branded Salian's proceedings a conspiracy to defame Thackeray.
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According to the notice, Salian's original police complaint had sought registration of an FIR over alleged offences including gang rape, murder, and destruction or suppression of evidence, naming Thackeray among those whose role required investigation.
When police did not register an FIR, Salian approached the Bombay High Court through a criminal writ petition seeking an independent probe.
The notice states that Thackeray intervened in those proceedings to oppose the petition, and that his counsel described Salian's petition as malicious and politically motivated, submitting that Salian was being "used as a tool to harass" the intervener.
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It cites paragraphs from a Bombay High Court order dated 2 September, in which these submissions were recorded, including reliance on the Supreme Court's ruling in State of Haryana vs Bhajan Lal on quashing malafide criminal proceedings.
Salian's counsel has termed these characterisations "false, baseless, reckless and grossly defamatory," arguing in the notice that they cast a bereaved father seeking a lawful investigation as someone abusing the judicial process for political ends.
The notice adds that the imputations are aggravated by the fact that Thackeray was himself named in the original complaint as a person requiring investigation.
Thackeray and Deshmukh have not yet issued a public response to the notice.
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