Jiah Khan committed suicide, was not murdered, CBI tells Bombay High Court

Mumbai, Aug 2: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday told the Bombay High Court that late Bollywood actor Jiah Khan committed suicide and ruled out any foul play. Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh told a division bench of Justice Naresh Patil and Justice Prakash Naik that the investigative agency had no reason to protect actor Sooraj Pancholi who is accused of murdering Khan in 2013. Following this, the high court asked Khan’s mother Rabia Khan to make a list of anomalies, if any, in the investigation, reported.

The court will decide on Rabia Khan’s plea on August 23 and continued its interim stay on the trial against Pancholi, reported The Times of India. The bench said the list should have three columns – one with the anomalies in police investigation, the second that of of CBI and the third should have Rabia Khan's views on the points left out in the investigation.

The CBI in its report said there was no proof for Rabia Khan’s theory that someone had entered the flat from an open window and killed her daughter. Rabia Khan's lawyer Dhairyasheel Patil had also pointed out that the investigative officials ignored the injury mark on Khan’s neck, to which the CBI said that the mark was that of the dupatta she used to hang herself. ASG Singh also informed the court that they had consulted an expert from All India Institute of Medical Sciences who had ruled out murder.

Khan was found hanging from a ceiling fan at her residence on June 3, 2013. Pancholi was arrested on charge of abetting her suicide on June 10, 2013. He was released on July 2, 2013, after the high court granted him bail. The high court had transferred the case to the CBI after Rabia Khan approached the court and claimed that her daughter was murdered. In December 2015, the CBI filed a chargesheet against Pancholi for abetting suicide. Rabia Khan then again moved the high court alleging the CBI had ignored crucial evidence.