Judgement in Jiah Khan suicide case on April 28

Actor Suraj Pancholi will learn his fate on April 28 as the special Central Bureau of Investigation court delivers its verdict on abetment to suicide charges in the Jiah Khan case. Khan was found hanged in 2013 and Pancholi was charged with the crime.

The special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court will on April 28 pronounce its judgement in the Jiah Khan case, in which actor Suraj Pancholi has been prosecuted on abetment to suicide charges. The final arguments before special judge A S Sayyad ended on Thursday.

Jiah Khan

Jiah, an American citizen, is best known for her performance in Hindi film ‘Nishabd’ starring Amitabh Bachchan. On June 3, 2013, she was found hanging at her Juhu residence by her mother. Based on a letter seized on June 10, which was purportedly written by the 25-year-old actor, police booked Pancholi under section 306 (abetment to suicide) and arrested him.

Jiah’s mother Rabia Khan had, however, claimed that her daughter was murdered and moved the Bombay high court alleging that the local police did not properly investigate her daughter’s untimely death.

The HC had on July 3, 2014, transferred the case from the Juhu police to the CBI. The agency too concluded that it was a suicide. Jiah, in her note, had narrated her ordeal, intimate relationship, physical abuse, and mental and physical torture allegedly at the hands of Pancholi, which led her to die by suicide, the CBI said.

The prosecution examined 22 witnesses, including Jiah’s mother, who in her deposition said that Pancholi used to subject her daughter to physical and verbal abuse, and reiterated that it was a case of murder.

Advocate Prashant Patil, appearing for Pancholi, contended that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.