Mumbai, September 19, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut on Saturday defended the Thackeray family amid renewed political and legal controversy surrounding the death of Disha Salian, alleging that attempts to link the family to the case were politically motivated.
Raut was reacting to a Rs 500-crore defamation suit filed by Salian’s father, Satish Salian, against former Maharashtra ministers Aaditya Thackeray and Anil Deshmukh. Satish Salian is expected to personally deliver the defamation notice by visiting Matoshree, the Thackeray family residence in Bandra.
Raut questioned the timing of the renewed allegations and described the legal action as part of what he called a politically driven campaign by “outside forces”. He argued that issues involving the Thackeray family were being revived whenever the party regained political momentum in Maharashtra.
Referring to Disha Salian’s death in 2020, Raut said it was a tragedy and claimed that her father had previously described the death as an accident. He questioned why the matter was being raised again and rejected attempts to connect the Thackerays to it.
Raut also made a series of other political allegations during his interaction with the media.
He alleged, without providing evidence, that money collected through UPI transactions was being routed to the US as “extortion money” to delay the public release of the international Epstein files. He claimed that any fallout from the files could have major political consequences in India.
Raut also referred to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s remarks about the inevitability of the setting sun and interpreted them as a signal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s political decline ahead of 2029. He rejected comparisons of Modi with divine figures, saying the Prime Minister is a human being who can make mistakes and make statements that are not true.
Raut further accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of functioning as a biased institution under Union Home Minister Amit Shah. He cited the recent arrest of an opposition candidate in West Bengal in connection with an old case and decisions concerning party symbols as examples of what he described as attacks on democracy.
The allegations and interpretations made by Raut were part of his broader criticism of the BJP-led political establishment and central institutions.
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