Ajit Karn
Friday, a special CBI court issued its verdict in the Jiah Khan suicide case, nearly ten years after her body was discovered in her residence.
In relation to the murder of actor Jiah Khan, a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Mumbai rendered its verdict on Friday. Sooraj Pancholi, who was accused of aiding Jiah Khan’s suicide, was exonerated in this case. He was present in court when the verdict was rendered by the CBI. According to the court, Jiah Khan’s mother is attempting to delay her son’s trial by insisting it was a homicide case.
“Due to a lack of evidence, this court cannot find you (Sooraj Pancholi) guilty, so you are acquitted,” said the judge of the special CBI court in Mumbai, AS Sayyed.
Jiah, best known for her role opposite Amitabh Bachchan in Nishabd, was discovered dead in her Mumbai residence on June 3, 2013. She was 25 years old. The Mumbai Police detained Sooraj Pancholi under section 306 (attempt to commit suicide) on the basis of a letter seized a week later that was allegedly written by her. In the letter, she allegedly described her troubled relationship with Sooraj and claimed he physically and psychologically abused her.
Even though a Mumbai court denied Sooraj’s parole application, on July 1, 2013, he was granted bail after posting a 50,000 bond. On July 2, the court declared Sooraj Pancholi not responsible for Jiah Khan’s suicide and acquitted him. Rabia Khan, the mother of the late actor, was dissatisfied with the court’s verdict and requested a comprehensive investigation. Approximately one year after Jiah Khan’s murder, the Bombay High Court transferred the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
In her testimony before the CBI special court, Rabia Khan reiterated her claim that her daughter was murdered by Sooraj Pancholi, her daughter’s lover at the time. Jiah Khan’s mother had also reported that her daughter was depressed. After the case was transferred to the CBI, Sooraj’s father, the actor Aditya Pancholi, lodged a defamation suit against Rabia Khan for 100 crores.
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Rabia had filed a new appeal with the Bombay High Court to reopen the nine-year-old case last year, alleging errors in the prior CBI investigation. The Bombay High Court, however, had dismissed Rabia’s petition. Rabia alleged in her petition that her daughter was murdered and requested a new investigation by an independent and special agency with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States.
