Jiah Khan suicide case: Court acquits actor Sooraj Pancholi from abetment charge citing lack of evidence

MUMBAI — Almost 10 years after Bollywood actor Jiah Khan was found hanging at her Mumbai residence, a special CBI court here on Friday acquitted her then boyfriend Sooraj Pancholi in the case of abetment of her suicide citing "paucity of evidence".

Sooraj Pancholi (32), who was arrested in the case in June 2013 and released on bail a few weeks later, was charged under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 306 (abetment of suicide).

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Jiah's mother Rabia Khan has been contesting the prosecution's stand that this was a case of suicide and claimed that her daughter was killed. After the court's verdict, she said the judgement was not surprising and her battle to seek justice for her daughter will continue.

Pronouncing the verdict, special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court judge A S Sayyad on Friday said due to paucity of evidence, the court holds Sooraj Pancholi not guilty.

Sooraj, the son of actor couple Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab, was present in court with his mother when it passed the judgement.

Judge Sayyad called Sooraj to the witness-box and asked his name. When the actor said Sooraj, the judge asked him to state his full name. The actor then replied, "Sooraj Aditya Pancholi."

The judge then said, "Due to paucity of evidence, this court holds you (Sooraj) not guilty acquitted."

Sooraj nodded with his head down and stepped out of the witness-box.

The judge then told Rabia Khan that she could prepare an appeal against the acquittal order.

Sooraj walked out of the court premises with his mother an hour after the verdict was pronounced.

Rabia Khan later told reporters in court that her battle seeking justice for her daughter will continue.

"I will fight. This judgment is not surprising I had anticipated this. This is not a case of abetment to suicide it is a case of murder," she said.

Pancholi's lawyer Prashant Patil welcomed the court's verdict and said the court has examined all the evidence before passing the judgement.

"It is very easy to make allegations in front of the media, but there was no evidence against Sooraj," he said.

The court was to pronounce its verdict in the morning, but it got delayed till afternoon after Rabia submitted fresh written arguments.

Jiah (25), an American citizen, was found dead at her Juhu home here on June 3, 2013. Police later arrested Sooraj on the basis of a six-page letter, purportedly written by the Bollywood starlet.

Read: Jiah Khan’s mother alleges Salman Khan tried influencing probe in actress’s death

In his final statement submitted to the court on April 12, 2023, Sooraj Pancholi said that he had been booked in a false case and that he was a victim of a false prosecution and persecution. In the statement, he said he had broken down when he heard about Jiah's death and said, "I had lost the most important person of my life and the woman whom I truly loved."

IPC section 306 says, "If any person commits suicide, whoever actively abets the commission of such suicide, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine."

The CBI had alleged that the letter seized by the Mumbai police, which probed the case initially, was written by Jiah Khan.

The note narrated Jiah Khan's "intimate relationship, physical abuse and mental and physical torture" allegedly at the hands of Sooraj which led her to commit suicide, the central agency said.

Rabia Khan, a key prosecution witness in the case, told the court that she believed it to be a case of murder and not suicide. The Bombay High Court had last year dismissed her petition seeking a fresh investigation into the case.

During her deposition, Rabia Khan had told the CBI court that Sooraj used to subject Jiah to physical and verbal abuse.

Rabia Khan also told the court that neither the police nor the CBI had collected any "legal evidence" to prove that her daughter had committed suicide.

Sooraj, in his final statement filed before the court, had claimed the investigation and chargesheet were false, adding that the prosecution witnesses testified against him at the behest of complainant Rabia Khan, the police and the CBI.

Sooraj in his final statement to the court also said that Jiah was suffering from depression since 2012 and had in fact cut herself on her arm in November 2012. He claimed that he had informed Rabia Khan about this incident.

Jiah Khan is best known for her performance in Hindi film "Nishabd" starring Amitabh Bachchan.