Sooraj Pancholi acquitted in Jiah Khan’s suicide case

After almost a decade, a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Mumbai delivered its verdict in the case relating to the death of Bollywood actor Jiah Khan. The verdict was to be delivered on April 28, 2023, as reported by Hindustan Times and NDTV.

Jiah was found dead in her Mumbai home on June 3, 2013. The Mumbai Police had booked the actor under Section 306 (abetment to suicide) and arrested him based on a letter seized on June 10, 2013, which was purportedly written by Jiah. Sooraj, son of actors Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab, was allegedly in a relationship with Jiah. Her mother, Rabia Khan, alleged that her daughter was murdered.

Rabia moved the Bombay High Court in October 2013, seeking a CBI probe into the case. She also claimed that her daughter was in an abusive relationship with Sooraj, with the couple having started dating in September 2012. On the order of the Bombay high court, the CBI took over the probe from the Maharashtra Police in July 2014.

Sooraj, accused of abetting Jiah’s suicide, was acquitted in the case. He was at the CBI court when the verdict was declared. Sooraj was charged on the basis of a six-page letter purportedly written by Jiah, which claimed that she had been physically and mentally tortured by him. The note allegedly narrated her "intimate relationship, physical abuse and mental and physical torture,” which led to her committing suicide. If convicted under IPC Section 306, Sooraj could have faced a jail term of up to ten years.

The case was reassigned to a special CBI court in 2021 after the sessions court said that it had no jurisdiction over the case as the CBI had probed it. Rabia alleged that the police and CBI had not collected legal evidence to prove that her daughter had committed suicide. Sooraj, in his final statement filed before the court, claimed that the investigation and chargesheet were false, adding that prosecution witnesses had testified against him on the behest of complainant Rabia, police and CBI.

During her deposition, Rabia told the CBI court that Sooraj used to subject Jiah to physical and verbal abuse. She also stated that neither the police nor the CBI had collected any "legal evidence" to prove that her daughter had died of suicide.