The Supreme Court’s permission to the CBI to investigate the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput could trigger a fresh and intense round of political clashes between the BJP and its former ally Shiv Sena, sources said.

The top court’s verdict has come as an opportunity for the BJP to politically target the Uddhav Thackeray government in Maharashtra, BJP insiders said.

Late last year, the Sena, which had been the BJP’s oldest and most ideologically amenable ally, broke ranks after fighting the elections together and joined hands with Sharad Pawar’s NCP and the Congress to form the government in Maharashtra, handing the BJP its rudest shock so far.

The BJP had desperately tried to wrest power without the Sena by attempting to split the NCP but failed miserably. Since then, the BJP has been seething and looking for an opportunity to settle scores with the former ally.

Privately, many in the BJP feel the handover of the Sushant probe to the CBI has come as an opportunity.

“The Sushant Singh Rajput case was politicised to malign Mumbai police and the Maharashtra government,” the editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamana said on Thursday, apprehending a political backlash from the BJP.

“There is no harm in the CBI taking over any case from any state. But this would be an encroachment on the state’s rights,” the editorial added, highlighting how the recommendation for a CBI probe had been made by the Bihar government and not Maharashtra. Sushant, who lived and worked in Mumbai, had been brought up in Bihar, where his family is based.

Apart from chief minister Uddhav, the BJP also appears to be targeting his son Aditya Thackeray, who is being groomed to take charge of the Sena. The name of Aditya, a minister in the state government, has cropped up in connection with the Sushant episode.

BJP leader Narayan Rane, a former Maharashtra chief minister who had begun his political career with the Sena, and his politician son Nilesh Rane have pointed fingers at Aditya, raising questions over his silence. A whisper campaign has also been launched by the BJP claiming that the Uddhav government was opposed to a CBI probe to save Aditya.

The political campaign against Uddhav and Aditya has been so strong that it has forced the son to respond.

In a signed statement in Marathi early this month, Aditya rubbished the accusations and termed them “dirty politics” to target the state government.

“There has been unnecessary mud slinging on me and the Thackeray family. This is nothing but dirty politics out of frustration,” Aditya had said.

Privately, BJP leaders suspect a money-laundering angle to the case involving people who had backed the Sena’s efforts to come to power in Maharashtra.

The Enforcement Directorate has been deployed in the Sushant probe and many in the BJP feel that soon the noose will tighten around many “invisible players”.

“The Shiv Sena couldn’t have mustered the courage to take on the BJP without backing from some powerful quarters. Those invisible players will soon feel the heat,” a BJP MP from Maharashtra claimed.