Jiah Khan Suicide Case Verdict: What We Know About Late Actress And Timeline Of Her Death Case

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On 3 June 2013, Jiah Khan died at her Juhu House and on 10 June 2013, Juhu Police arrested Sooraj Pancholi who remained in custody for almost a month till the Bombay High Court granted him bail on 3 July 2013. Special CBI judge AS Sayyad, heard the final arguments of both sides last week and had reserved his judgment in the case for 28 April 2023.

Today almost a decade after the incident, a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Mumbai gave its verdict and cleared Sooraj Pancholi of all the charges in the Jiah Khan suicide case, due to lack of evidence.

Jiah Khan: What We Know About Late Actress And Her Death Case

• Jiah Khan was born as Nafisa Khan on 28 February 1988 in New York, USA to Indian parents Ali Rizvi Khan (father) and Raabiya Amin (mother).
• She made her debut with Amitabh Bachchan starrer Nishabd, which made headlines due to the storyline where an aged man falls in love with a 16-year-old girl.
• She was also part of Amir Khan's Ghajni and Sajid Khan's Housefull.
• As a child actor, she played young Manisha Koirala in the 2007 film Dil Se.
• Jiah Khan was found hanging in her home on 10 June 2013.
• At the time of her death, Jiah Khan was in a relationship with Sooraj Pancholi, who is the son of Veteran actor Aditya Pancholi. Sooraj and Jiah allegedly started dating in September 2012.
• It was 4 days after her suicide, her family members located the suicide letter.
• Her family handed a 6-page letter after Jiah's death which mentioned that she was unhappy while living with Sooraj Pancholi.
• The letter also mentioned, physical and mental torture by Sooraj Pancholi and that Jiah had to abort a baby whose alleged father was Sooraj Pancholi.
• According to a report, the CBI claimed the note narrated her "intimate relationship, physical abuse and mental and physical torture" allegedly at the hands of Sooraj, which led Jiah to commit suicide.
• Sooraj was arrested on 10 June 2013 on charges of abetment of suicide of Jiah Khan and was later released on bail.
• In 2014, the Bombay High Court asked CBI to investigate the death of Jiah Khan.
• In 2018, Sooraj Pancholi was charged with abetment of suicide case by a Mumbai Court.
• In January 2018, the trial began technically when a witness was examined, it gained momentum in February 2022 and concluded in April 2023.
• Through prosecutor Manoj Chelladan, the CBI examined almost 22 witnesses to prove its case.
• Pancholi's defence lawyer Prashant Patil citing Supreme Court rulings on section 306 IPC said 'In order to convict a person under sec. 306, IPC there has to be a clear mens rea (guilty intent) to commit the offence. It also requires an active act or direct act which led the deceased to commit suicide seeing no option and this act must have been intended to push the deceased into such a position that he committed suicide.'
• Last September, the high court dismissed Rabiah Khan's plea for an FBI probe (to recover certain "deleted'' messages from the phones) and in a stern order, deprecated her 'repeated insistence' to declare that her daughter's death was homicidal and not a suicide.
• Pancholi mentioned that he shared a good relationship with Jiah and had also told her mother Rabiah that she (Jiah) was depressed.
• Sooraj has always insisted that he was falsely implicated in the case and claimed that it was Jiah's sister who gave a false statement that he used to abuse Jiah during their relationship.
• Further, Sooraj has also denied any allegations related to Jiah's abortion in January 2013 and chatting with her on the Blackberry phone or living in each other's houses.
• Under section 313 of the Code of criminal Procedure (CrPC), Pancholi faced 558 questions and denied all allegations against him.