A special CBI court here is expected to issue its ruling on Friday in the suicide case of Bollywood starlet Jiah Khan, in which her lover and movie star Sooraj Pancholi has been charged with abetment, almost ten years after she was discovered hanging at her house.
Sooraj, the son of Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab, an actress couple, may spend up to 10 years in prison if found guilty.
Judge A S Sayyad of the special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court last week heard the closing arguments from both parties and held off on rendering a decision.
On June 3, 2013, Jiah (25), a resident of the United States, was discovered dead in her Juhu residence. On the basis of a six-page letter allegedly written by the Bollywood actress, police subsequently detained Sooraj and charged him with aiding suicide in accordance with IPC section 306.
“If any person commits suicide, whoever aids in such suicide shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine,” states IPC section 306. In the case, Sooraj is presently free on bond.
The Mumbai police, who originally looked into the issue, had obtained a letter that the CBI said was authored by Jiah Khan. According to the central agency, the message described Jiah Khan’s claimed “intimate relationship, physical abuse, and mental and physical torture” at the hands of Sooraj, which drove her to commit suicide.
After the sessions court asserted that it lacked jurisdiction over the case because the central agency had investigated it, the case was transferred to a special CBI court in 2021.
Jiah’s mother Rabia Khan, a significant witness for the prosecution in the case, told the court that she thought it was a case of murder rather than suicide. She had petitioned the Bombay High Court for a further probe into the matter, but it had been denied last year.
Rabia said before the CBI court during her deposition that Sooraj used to physically and verbally assault Jiah.
Additionally, Rabia informed the court that neither the police nor the CBI had gathered any “legal evidence” to support the suicide of her daughter.
The investigation and chargesheet, according to Sooraj’s final statement submitted to the court, were fabricated. He further alleged that the prosecution’s witnesses gave false testimony against him at the direction of complainant Rabia Khan, the police, and the CBI.
Jiah Khan is well known for her role in the Hindi film “Nishabd” with Amitabh Bachchan.