Jiah Khan death | Mumbai court acquits Sooraj Pancholi due to lack of evidence in abetment of suicide case

A Mumbai court on April 28 acquitted Sooraj Pancholi from charges of abetting suicide of actor Jiah Khan.

A Mumbai court on April 28 acquitted Sooraj Pancholi from charges of abetting suicide of actor Jiah Khan.

A special CBI court pronounced its verdict on Friday almost 10 years after Bollywood actor Jiah Khan died by suicide. Her former boyfriend and film star Sooraj Pancholi was charged with abetment.

Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court judge A. S. Sayyad last week heard the final arguments of both sides and reserved his judgment in the case.

According to the CBI, Jiah Khan’s mother Rabia Khan had found Ms. Jiah dead at her residence on 3 June 2013. Ms. Jiah had left Sooraj Pancholi’s house that morning and had been staying with him for two days. Mr. Pancholi was arrested on June 10, 2013, on charges of abetment of suicide and was granted bail in a week.

Sooraj Pancholi was arrested on the basis of a six-page letter, purportedly written by the Bollywood starlet, and was booked for abetment of suicide under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 306.

On Thursday, the Bombay High Court also dismissed a plea filed by Jiah Khan’s mother Rabia Khan seeking a fresh probe into the actor’s death in 2013 claiming that it was not a suicide but a homicide.

IPC section 306 says, “If any person commits suicide, whoever 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.” Sooraj is currently out on bail in the case.