Sooraj Pancholi charged for allegedly abetting Jiah Khan's suicide

Sooraj Pancholi

A sessions court yesterday framed charges against Bollywood actor Sooraj Pancholi for allegedly abetting actress Jiah Khan's suicide. Judge KD Shirbhate framed charges against Pancholi under section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code, to which he pleaded not guilty. "Sooraj pleaded innocence and the examination of witnesses will start from February 14," said his lawyer Prashant Patil.

According to the chargesheet, Khan, best known for her performance in the film Nishabd starring Amitabh Bachchan, was found hanging at her residence on June 3, 2013 by her mother Rabiya. She had left Pancholi's house - where she had been staying for the last two days - in the morning the same day, it said. According to CBI, Pancholi had "hidden facts and fabricated information" during questioning. He had refused to undergo polygraph or brain-mapping tests, which the agency wanted to conduct to get to the bottom of his alleged role in the incident.

The CBI said a three-page note seized by the Mumbai Police, which earlier probed the case, on June 10, 2013, was written by Khan which narrated her "intimate relationship, physical abuse and mental and physical torture" allegedly at the hands of Pancholi which led her to commit suicide. It said the letter was not signed and even not addressed to Sooraj Pancholi but it incriminated him.

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