Jiah Khan Death: High Court Dismisses Actress’ Mother’s Plea Against CBI Charge Sheet

Source:- timesnow.tv

The Bombay High Court dismissed a petition filed by Jiah Khan’s mother Rabia, challenging the CBI’s charge sheet terming the actress’ death as suicide and not homicide, paving the way for trial to commence against actor Sooraj Pancholi in the case.

Sooraj has been charged with the abetment of Ms Khan’s suicide.

A division bench of Justices R V More and Shalini Pahansalkar-Joshi dismissed the petition on Thursday. The bench also said that the intervening application filed by Sooraj does not survive and hence, it too stands dismissed.

The high court’s dismissal of Rabia’s petition paves the way for trial to commence against Sooraj before a lower court. The High Court had earlier stayed the trial pending the hearing of Rabia’s petition.

According to Rabia, Ms Khan was allegedly murdered by her then boyfriend-actor Sooraj Pancholi. Rabia, in her petition, had sought formation of a special investigation team and monitoring of the investigation by high court.

She said that her daughter’s death on June 3, 2013, was not suicidal, as claimed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, but was homicidal. Her lawyer had earlier told the High Court that the investigating agency’s claim that Ms Khan had committed suicide because she was depressed about her career not doing well, cannot be accepted.

He had also argued that Sooraj’s alibi that he was not present at Ms Khan’s residence at the time of the incident is fabricated. CBI counsel Anil Singh, however, had argued that the agency has CCTV footage of a hotel in Juhu where Sooraj was present on the day of the incident.

Rabia had in her petition also claimed that the injuries on Ms Khan’s body clearly indicate physical abuse. Sooraj had last year filed an intervening application seeking for stay on the trial to be vacated, saying he has every right to face a “free, fair and expeditious trial.”

He had claimed in his application that the petitioner (Rabia) has concealed vital information pertaining to Ms Khan’s disturbed childhood and also the fact that she (Ms Khan) had attempted to kill herself when she was young.

Sooraj was arrested for abetting Ms Khan’s suicide on June 10, 2013, but released on July 2 the same year after the High Court granted him bail.

The case was transferred to CBI by the High Court in July 2014 on Rabia’s petition that the police was not probing it properly. Rabia had sought SIT probe alleging that CBI, which is currently investigating the case, had concurred with the findings of Mumbai police that it was a case of suicide and not a homicide