Salman Khan Named in Petition Due to Typographical Error, Accused’s Mother Clarifies in Bombay High Court

Typographical Error: Accused’s Mother Clarifies Petition Against Salman Khan in Bombay High Court

The mother of Anuj Thapan, who allegedly died by suicide in police custody following his arrest related to the recent shooting outside actor Salman Khan’s residence, clarified to the Bombay High Court on Wednesday that the request for registering a case against the actor was a typographical error [Rita Devi v. State of Maharashtra & Ors].

A vacation bench comprising Justice NR Borkar and Justice Somasekhar Sundaresan acknowledged this clarification and directed that the correction be made in the petition.

This development occurred during the hearing of a petition filed by Rita Devi, Thapan’s mother, seeking an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into her son’s custodial death.

The petition, filed through advocate Sriram Parakkat, alleges that Thapan was murdered by the Mumbai Police Crime Branch. Salman Khan is listed as one of the respondents in the petition, which seeks the transfer of the investigation to the CBI and the registration of an FIR against certain police officers.

During the hearing, Senior Advocate Aabad Ponda, representing Khan, pointed out that while there were no allegations against the actor in the petition, there was a request for an FIR to be registered against him.

In response to the court’s query, Parakkat explained that there was a concern that Khan might be directly or indirectly involved in the investigation, as he was the complainant in the shooting incident. Ponda countered that there were no specific allegations against Khan and that his complaint was against unknown persons.

Ponda further noted that the petition’s prayer included a request for job suspension, which could not be applied to Khan. After Parakkat admitted that the request for an FIR against Khan was a typographical error, Ponda asked the court to formally record this statement.

The vacation bench recorded the statement and scheduled the next hearing for the second week of June.

Previously, on May 16, a vacation bench of the High Court directed Mumbai police to submit a status report on their ongoing investigation into Thapan’s death. The police complied, presenting a report that included an autopsy. However, the bench expressed dissatisfaction with the report, noting that it lacked critical details such as a diagram of ligature marks on Thapan’s neck and other injuries on his body.

The bench allowed Parakkat to review the report and return it to the court.

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