Nearly a half-decade later, a Mumbai court on Friday acquitted Bollywood actor Sooraj Pancholi of abetting model and actress Jiah Khan’s suicide in 2013.
After reserving the case for judgement on April 20, special judge AS Sayyad passed the ruling today. Pancholi was acquitted due to a lack of evidence.
Rabia Khan, Khan’s mother, found her daughter hanging from the ceiling on June 3, 2013. The actress allegedly wrote a 6-page letter detailing her turbulent relationship with Pancholi.
On this basis of the same, Pancholi was charged with abetting suicide and arrested by the Mumbai Police. The Bombay High Court granted him bail on July 1, 2013.
Rabia Khan, Khan’s mother, then approached before the Bombay High Court for the probe to be transferred to a special investigation team (SIT) or the Central Bureau of probe (CBI).
She pleaded that her daughter had been murdered rather than committed suicide.
The probe was handed over to the CBI by the High Court in 2014. As a result, the case was assigned to a special CBI judge. The trial in this case began in March 2019.
The CBI charged Pancholi with abetment of suicide under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in its chargesheet filed in December 2015.
Prashant Patil, Pancholi’s lawyer, moved before the special court in January 2023, requesting that the trial be expedited by summoning the witnesses.
He contended that the CBI had only called 14 witnesses and that the matter had been languishing since 2014. He claimed that the trial’s delay was causing Pancholi difficulty.
On January 21, 2023, the trial was expedited when three witnesses remained to be examined – two investigating officers and an expert.
