Don’t leave Jiah alone, doctors said after earlier suicide bid

Jiah Khan was an intelligent girl, very respectful. She did not have any professional issues. It was the personal crises in her life that made her end it, says the doctor who treated her after her first suicide attempt. Puja Changoiwala reports.

It was at 11.30pm about eight months ago that Dr Anant Pal Singh received an emergency call from a person named Jaya who told him that her friend had “accidentally cut herself” and that she needed him to rush to her residence. Dr Singh, who was out on a visit, left for Sagar Sangeet building in Juhu, where actor Jiah Khan lived alone in the first-floor 2-BHK apartment.

“She was sitting on the couch. To ascertain if the case was a medico-legal one, I asked her how she got the wound. She did not say anything, and simply smiled. She was drunk. On inspection, I found a long cut on her left hand, just below the elbow,” recollected the 43-year-old doctor.

Since it was a grievous wound, Jiah required 15 to 20 stitches on the wrist. The doctor used plastic surgery sutures to ensure the wound does not remain visible as Jiah was to attend a photo-shoot in the following days.

Jiah Khan's family and friends visibly upset as they arrive at JJ Hospital (Mumbai), where the actress's body was taken on Tuesday.

“Her friends told me she had accidentally hurt herself as she had been drinking a lot. It was a glass wound, I was told. I did not probe any further and left after the stitches,” he said.

“It was only recently that I learnt that she had tried to commit suicide,” Dr Singh added.

According to Dr Singh, Jiah visited him frequently for follow-ups until the stitches were removed 10 days later.

She visited him thereafter as well for other health issues, during which she had told him about her depression, and also that she had been on medication for it.

“Even her friends, including Sooraj Pancholi [actor Aditya Pancholi’s son and Jiah’s boyfriend] knew that she was very depressed and they were trying to rid her of the state of mind.

I had advised them against leaving her alone, even for a day. She had several personal problems and felt very lonely,” he said.

“She was an intelligent girl, very respectful. She did not have any professional issues. It was the personal crises in her life that made her end it,” Dr Singh added.