The Bombay High Court has ordered the federal police – the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) – to reopen the case and reinvestigate the death of Disha Salian, manager of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing BBC News.

On 4 June 2020, as a deadly wave of Covid-19 swept through India, celebrity manager Disha Salian asked her father Satish Salian to call a police helpline to check if it was safe for her to travel. She was excited about an advertising campaign she was going to shoot and showed her parents a photo of the cheque she had received as advance remuneration. As she walked out of the door, she told her parents that she would be back in two days. It was the last time the Salians saw their 28-year-old daughter alive.

On the intervening night of 8 and 9 June, Satish Salian was called by the police to a hospital where he learnt that his only child was dead. Police said she had fallen from the 12th floor of a building in the western city of Mumbai. Disha's friends at the hospital said she had been drinking alcohol and fell accidentally. Police later said their investigation had shown that her death was a suicide.

But earlier this month, the Bombay High Court ordered the federal police – the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) – to reopen the case and reinvestigate Disha's death. The court order came after a petition filed last year by Satish Salian, who had insisted from the start that his daughter's death was not a suicide or an accident and alleged that she was gang-raped and murdered.

His allegations that some senior police officers had destroyed evidence and created a false story of suicide to protect some ministers and influential politicians who had a role in the alleged crime has made it one of India's most discussed deaths in recent years.

In the order on 2 September, Judges Sarang V Kotwal and Ranjitsinha Raja Bhonsale criticised the police and said there were "too many glaring discrepancies" in their investigation, which was carried out in two phases over more than six years. The judges insisted that they were not holding "a mini trial" but said "the investigation carried out by the police raises more questions than it answers".

They pointed out the unexplained delay in police paperwork, that no blood had been found at the spot where the body had fallen and said that the injuries mentioned in the post-mortem report did not seem consistent with a fall. "We find this difficult to accept," they wrote.

One of the biggest criticisms from the court was that the police had only investigated it as a case of suspicious or unnatural death and not registered an FIR (First Information Report) – a document police have to prepare when they receive information about a crime.

Satish Salian's accusations are only allegations so far, but they have formed the basis of a new investigation by the CBI, which last week registered an FIR based on a written complaint from him. The BBC has reviewed this FIR and read through the court order in the case.

Summarising Satish Salian's allegations, the court order said that at the time of her death, Disha was working with Kwan Entertainment – a celebrity management company – and represented Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput. "She got to know about some objectionable activities of the powerful people. She gave that information to Rajput, who innocently divulged that to others. Ultimately that information reached back those people and she was murdered to silence her," it added.

Rajput mourned her death in an Instagram story. "It's such devastating news. My deepest condolences to Disha's family and friends. May your soul rest in peace," he wrote.

In the initial days, Disha's death went largely unnoticed until less than a week later, Rajput himself was found dead in his home. Police also ruled his death to be a case of suicide, saying he had mental health issues for which he was under treatment.

But weeks later, his actress girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty was arrested following accusations from Rajput's father that she had contributed to his suicide. He also denied that his son had any mental health issues.

Following outrage, Sushant's case was also handed over to the CBI which, last year, closed the case, saying he had indeed died by suicide and that neither Chakraborty nor her family had a role in his death.

In the FIR Satish Salian has registered with the CBI, he has alleged that the deaths of Disha and Rajput are linked. Disha, he says, shared with the actor "incriminating and objectionable information concerning alleged drug trafficking, child abuse and other unlawful activities" involving a former minister and some others and the two intended to hold a press conference to bring it into the public domain.