Before verdict, revisit the timeline of Jiah Khan-Sooraj Pancholi case
On June 3, 2013, India was rocked by the news of the death of actor Jiah Khan. She allegedly died by suicide in her bedroom and left a lengthy suicide note behind, wherein she narrated her troubled relationship with her boyfriend- actor Sooraj Pancholi, who later became the prime accused. The case is crawling toward completion and the final verdict will arrive on Friday.
Few days post tragedy, Pancholi was arrested by Mumbai Police
In the days following her death, Khan's mother Rabia alleged that Khan was undergoing "serious depression" for a while. The Mumbai Police read through Khan's suicide note, wherein the Ghajini actor accused Pancholi of cheating and revealed that she was pregnant with his baby but had to abort it. On June 11, he was charged with abetment to suicide and arrested by the cops.
In August 2015, CBI confirmed death by hanging
In July 2013, the court, denying his involvement in the case, acquitted Pancholi, but Rabia kept trudging on for CBI investigation. Finally, in 2014, CBI came on board, and after a thorough investigation, in 2015, it filed a supplementary charge sheet alleging Pancholi of abetting Khan's suicide. Next year, in August, CBI confirmed that Khan passed away from hanging, thus ruling out her murder.
Rabia even sought the help of PM Narendra Modi
In 2017, Rabia wrote an open letter to PM Narendra Modi. An excerpt read: "The injuries on my daughter's body are inconsistent with the alleged suicidal hanging and all forensic evidence strongly suggest that she was murdered and then hanged to make it look like a suicide." "CBI's independent forensic expert opinion is inconclusive and doesn't rule out either homicide or suicide," she added.
Fast-forward: Case was taken over by a Special CBI Court
In 2021, the case was assigned to a Special CBI Court. Moreover, last year, Pancholi sought a non-bailable warrant against Rabia, alleging that she was trying to delay the case by not appearing before the court and evading summons. Special Judge AS Sayyad heard the closing arguments on April 20 and will now pronounce the verdict around 10:30am on Friday.
Take a quick look at Khan's career
Khan's real name was Nafisa and she made her debut with Ram Gopal Varma's romantic thriller film Nishabd in 2007, co-starring Amitabh Bachchan. Subsequently, she appeared in AR Murgadoss's thriller Ghajini and Sajid Khan's multistarrer comedy Housefull in 2008 and 2010, respectively. She was 25 at the time of her death. In January 2021, BBC made a documentary on her called Death in Bollywood.
