Sameer Wankhede To Be The ‘Witness’ In Disha Salian Case

MUMBAI: Fresh details have emerged in the CBI's investigation into the 2020 death of talent manager Disha Salian, with the FIR documents and the family's counsel pointing to former Narcotics Control Bureau Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede among those whose information may bear on the case. 

Wankhede’s name figures in the FIR-related documents, particularly at pages 9 and 10, which refer to information said to have been obtained during an earlier inquiry, along with claims concerning mobile-tower location data.

Advocate Nilesh Ojha, who represents Disha Salian's father Satish Salian, has identified Wankhede as one of four witnesses in the matter, stating that he had been a witness for the legal team from the beginning. The FIR documents also refer to alleged mobile-tower data concerning Aditya Thackeray, Sooraj Pancholi, Dino Morea and others claims that remain subject to investigation and verification by the CBI, and which have not been independently confirmed.

The FIR in the Disha Salian death probe records the complainant, Satish Salian, stating that he had been informed that Wankhede, during an inquiry conducted by the Narcotics Control Bureau, had "allegedly found material" concerning Aditya Thackeray's mobile-tower location at the place connected with the death. The complainant separately states that he came across information, including in a video made by one Ashutosh Pathak, alleging that Thackeray's tower location had been traced to or near that place, and that he came across a News broadcast alleging that Disha Salian had also been subjected to gang rape. 

The FIR itself does not record Wankhede's alleged finding as an independent conclusion of the investigating agency it records only what the complainant says he was informed and what he came across in media reports. 

The complainant's statement separately urges that the disappearance of "crucial electronic evidence requires investigation" to establish who removed or suppressed such records, at what stage and on whose instructions.

The CBI registered a case into Disha Salian's death on September 13, 2026, after the Bombay High Court, in Criminal Writ Petition No. 1612/2025 (Satish Salian v. State of Maharashtra and Others), directed that a criminal case be registered on the complainant's statement. The investigation is ongoing, and the allegations and claims cited in the FIR and in subsequent statements by counsel including those concerning Wankhede and the alleged mobile-tower material have not been established as findings of fact or of guilt by any court or by the investigating agency.

Responding to these reports in an exclusive conversation with LawStreet Journal, Wankhede clarified that he has not been served any summons or official communication by the investigating agency in the matter so far, though he said he is aware of the reference to him arising from the FIR documentation, and indicated that he would speak in greater detail once he returns to Mumbai.