Jiah Khan death: Court reserves judgement in abetment to suicide case against Sooraj Pancholi, verdict likely next week

Almost a decade after young actress Jiah Khan was found dead in her Juhu flat, a special CBI court reserved its judgement in the abetment to suicide case against her boyfriend, actor Sooraj Pancholi. As per reports, Special jugde AS Sayyad is likely to pronounce the judgement on next Friday (April 28).

On Thursday, the court heard the final arguments of both sides and reserved his judgment in the case. On June 3, 2013, 25-year-old Jiah was found dead at her Juhu home. Her death was initially ruled suicide after police investigation. The police later arrested Suraj on the basis of a six-page letter, purportedly written by the late actress, blaming him for her death. He was booked for abetment to suicide.

The case was reassigned to a special CBI court in 2021 after the sessions court said that it did not have the jurisdiction over the case as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had probed it.

Meanwhile, Jiah's mother Rabia Khan, a key prosecution witness in the case, has told the court that she believed it to be a case of murder and not suicide. Last year, the Bombay High Court dismissed her petition seeking a fresh investigation into the case. During her deposition, Rabia had told the CBI court that Suraj used to subject Jiah to physical and verbal abuse.

Prashant Patil, appearing for Suraj, told PTI, “We concluded the final arguments today (Thursday) on facts as well as on merits in the matter of Suraj Pancholi versus CBI.”

Jiah Khan, an American citizen, made her film debut at 19 in Ram Gopal Varma’s Nishabd in 2007 and went on to appear in hits such as Ghajini and Housefull, her only other films in her short career. As per reports, she and Sooraj Pancholi, began dating just over a year before her death

Pancholi, the son of Bollywood couple Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab, is currently out on bail in the case.

(With PTI inputs)