A new high-level investigation has been launched in India to probe a suspicious death in 2020 of a celebrity manager that was initially ruled an accident but some allege was actually a murder, according to Latestly.

On Friday, Mumbai Police formed a Special Investigation Team to reprobe the circumstances surrounding the death of Disha Salian, who died just days before a popular Bollywood actor she managed, Sushant Singh Rajput, was also found dead under mysterious circumstances.

Disha Salian death case | Mumbai Police SIT has started investigation into the case. Currently, investigation is underway and some people associated with the case are being questioned: Mumbai Police

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— ANI (@ANI) December 15, 2023

Special team will reprobe 2020 death

According to The Times of India, Salian is officially alleged to have fallen or jumped -- or been pushed -- to her death from the 14th-floor apartment of her fiancé on June 8, 2020, in the Malad West section of Mumbai.

Mumbai Police declared that death to have been an accident, but suspicions of possible foul play began to emerge when one of her top clients, Rajput, was also found dead in his Bandra apartment less than a week later -- he was found hanged, according to India Today -- which gave rise to persistent conspiracy theories that the two had been murdered -- even as a lengthy initial investigation found otherwise.

Now, at the urging of various politicians and government officials, the Mumbai Police have formed the Special Investigation Team to look into the matter once more.

That team is comprised of three senior law enforcement officials from different agencies and divisions and they were reportedly given direct instructions to not only go through all of the collected evidence, including the autopsy report and forensic expert statements, and witness statements from the initial investigation in search of discrepancies, but were also tasked to look for and consider any new evidence that may have come to light in the past few years.

Government officials and politicians raised concerns over Salian's suspicious death

The Indian Express reported that several politicians have for years raised pointed questions about the suspicious nature of the 2020 deaths of Salian and Rajput and pointed an accusatory finger at a certain government minister, Aaditya Thackeray, and his "Bollywood friends" as being responsible for those deaths.

Just one day prior to the formation of the SIT on Friday, the commissioner of the Mumbai Police received a letter from the state home department that urged him to reopen the case and give everything a second look.

"A lot of discussions are taking place and many questions are being raised over the Disha Salian death case. The recent developments in this matter have led to the possibility of the emergence of new forms of evidence, thereby necessitating a review of the case," the letter stated. "In view of this fact, if any new evidence is found, the executive magistrate will be informed and necessary action will be taken to continue the investigation."

Salian's family opposed reopening investigation of daughter's death

Of course, not everybody is pleased that the 2020 case involving the mysterious death of Salian has been reopened, including her parents, who India Today reported openly opposed the idea but could be questioned by the SIT in this new investigation.

"Will the SIT bring back our daughter? Why is all this being done? The case is already closed by Mumbai police. A lot of investigations have already been done, then why again?" her parents said in a statement after her father made it clear that he had no suspicions of foul play in the untimely death of his daughter.

Also opposing the reopened probe into Salian's death are the politicians who are allied with the minister accused by some of having some involvement in the matter.

"We don’t have any information about this (SIT formation). When we get information officially, we too will expose them," one of the oppositional politicians, Uddhav Thackeray, told the Express. "We have been following our culture for so long, but if you make such fake allegations … then we will give the real information, then they will have to face this when this comes their way."