Bombay High Court vacates stay on trial of actor Sooraj Pancholi

The Bombay High Court on Monday vacated the stay granted earlier on the trial against actor Sooraj Pancholi in the Jiah Khan suicide case.

A division bench of justices Naresh Patil and AM Badar, while hearing the petition filed by the deceased's mother Rabia Khan, said it would not want to keep the trial in abeyance until they decide on the petition filed by her seeking setting up of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the angle of murder of her daughter by Pancholi and assistance from Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).

Accordingly, the trial against Pancholi could begin on May 5. The high court had on February 25 stayed trial against Sooraj. Khan has petitioned the High Court against CBI categorizing Jiah's death on June 3, 2013 as suicidal and not homicidal.

Jiah's boyfriend was arrested for abetting her suicide on June 10, 2013 but released on July 2, 2013 after the HC granted him bail. The petition alleged that the CBI concluded in haste that the case was that of suicide; that it did not bother to counter question concerned people and that it did not bother getting important evidence on record.