The sessions court on Wednesday directed the CBI to inform it at the next hearing about the status of its investigation into the death of Bollywood actress Jiah Khan in suspicious circumstances.
Suraj Pancholi, son of actor couple Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab, who is facing charges of allegedly driving Jiah to commit suicide, was present in the court during the proceedings.
Jiah, an American citizen, was found dead at her Juhu home on June 3, 2013.
The case is pending before special women’s court judge AS Shende, and she asked if anybody from the CBI was present to inform the court about current status of the investigation done by the CBI so far. However, nobody was present from the CBI to answer the queries raised by the judge. “A long time back the CBI officer had told this court that the investigation was almost complete, so why no chargesheet is filed till date ” the judge enquired. The judge also asked Mr Tiwari’s junior to convey to the CBI that it should inform the court the status of its investigation on the next date of hearing.
In the meantime, the court was also informed that advocate Dinesh Tiwari, who was representing Jiah’s mother in this matter, has been appointed as special public prosecutor for the trial.
Speaking to The Asian Age, Mr Tiwari confirmed he received the notification few days ago about his appointment as the special public prosecutor in the case. Ms Rabiya had approached the high court in October 2013, contending Jiah did not commit suicide. She said she had been murdered and the police should investigate who had killed her. On her plea the matter was transferred to the CBI, which is still probing the matter.
The police, on the basis what was believed to be a suicide note written by Jiah, said she committed suicide and had arrested Suraj Pancholi for abetment to suicide as his name appeared in that alleged suicide letter. He was granted bail by the high court in July 2013. In his bail plea he had said that Jiah and him were in a consensual relationship and the letter was being misused by Ms Rabiya.
