Jiah Khan committed suicide — CBI

The Indian Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has concluded in its charge-sheet that US-born actress Jiah Khan committed suicide on June 3, 201, following a disturbed relationship with actor Sooraj Pancholi.

“The Board of Forensic Medicine Experts has opined that the death was ‘suicidal’ in nature, which corroborated the observation and opinion of the post-mortem doctor,” the CBI said on Wednesday, after a thorough scientific examination of the documents and material evidence in the case.

Moreover, the Forensic Statement Analysis of the suicide note, written by Khan, stated the unsigned three-pager note “allegedly represents her mental status genuinely and the circumstance and reasons behind her suicide,” the CBI said.

Pancholi, the son of actors Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab, has been booked under section 306 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for abetment to suicide while murder has been ruled out.

Emphasising the charge against Pancholi, the CBI said: “The wilful conduct of the accused, narrated in the note of Nafisa Rizvi, alias Jiah Khan, and her intimate relationship, physical abuse, mental and physical torture by Sooraj, which she experienced allegedly led the deceased to commit suicide.”

Jiah, 25, who was reportedly four-weeks pregnant and had allegedly aborted the foetus before she took the extreme step, had met Pancholi through Facebook in 2012 and their friendship blossomed into an intimate relationship.

That day (June 3, 2013), Khan had left Pancholi’s home where she had stayed with him for two-three days.

The couple had a bitter row on their mobile phones, and in the exchanges she accused him of lying about his “meeting with a common lady friend”

Enraged by her continuous messages in this connection, Pancholi deleted Jiah’s BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) account from his mobile, the CBI said.

She called him at midnight, which led to another spat that lasted for about 400 pulses, and he had sent “abusive and accusatory” text messages from his mobile to her.

When her mother, Rabiya, returned home, she found Khan hanging from the bedroom ceiling fan and informed the police.

In October 2013, Rabiya had petitioned the Bombay High Court, alleging that her daughter had been murdered and demanded a CBI probe into the matter.

In January 2014, the Juhu police station had filed its 447-page charge-sheet before the Andheri magistrate court and six months later the case was transferred to CBI which lodged a separate case on Aug. 13, 2014.

In a disclaimer of sorts, the CBI said that the findings were based on investigations done and evidence collected by it. Under Indian laws, the accused is presumed to be innocent until their guilt is finally established after a fair trial.