Get BBM messages to throw light on Jiah case, says mom

Mumbai: Rabia Khan, the mother of Bollywood actress Jiah Khan, who was found dead at her Juhu residence in June 2013, has filed an application before the session’s court in which she sought directions from the court for the provision of BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) messages that were allegedly exchanged between her daughter and actor Suraj Pancholi, the accused.

BBM is a proprietary Internet-based instant messenger and video-telephony application on BlackBerry devices built by a Canadian firm. According to Rabia’s application, the BBM messages could be procured from the firm’s server available in Maharashtra. According to Rabia, these messages will throw light on the case.

Rabia in her application requested the court that after getting details of the BBM server, the court could conduct an inquiry if required.

She further said the court needed to issue necessary direction to the state government and brings call logs between Pancholi and his friends Karan Joshi and Deva before the court. A CBI probe had concluded that Jiah’s death was a result of suicide and the agency had charged Pancholi for abetting it.     

Rabia alleged that Pancholi was communicating with Jiah on BBM prior to her death and the said communication was deleted by accused. She further stated that the police had initially claimed at the time of incident the accused was at his house, based on the mobile tower location, conveniently overlooking the fact that accused’s and the deceased’s residence are both covered by the same mobile tower near the ISKON temple.

“Only the GPS history of the accused BlackBerry phone can reveal the precise movement of the accused. It is therefore of utmost importance to recover the BlackBerry data, which includes both BBM and GPS history, directly from the company,” her application read.

Rabia in her application stated that the court needed to consider a lot of material before framing charges on Pancholi.