A sessions court in Mumbai on Tuesday framed charges against Bollywood actor Sooraj Pancholi for allegedly abetting actress Jiah Khan's suicide
A sessions court in Mumbai on Tuesday framed charges against Bollywood actor Sooraj Pancholi for allegedly abetting actress Jiah Khan's suicide. Judge K D Shirbhate framed charges against the 27-year-old actor 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," his lawyer Prashant Patil said.
ADVERTISEMENT
According to the chargesheet, Khan, best known for her performance in film 'Nishabd' starring Amitabh Bachchan, was found hanging at her residence on June 3, 2013 by her mother Rabiya. She had left the house of Sooraj Pancholi, where she had been staying for the last two days, in the morning the same day, it said. According to the CBI, Pancholi had "hidden facts and fabricated information" during questioning.
Sooraj Pancholi, the son of Bollywood couple Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab, 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. In October 2013, Rabiya Khan had moved the Bombay High Court alleging that her daughter had been murdered and sought a CBI probe, which was granted.
Catch up on all the latest Mumbai, National and International news here
Download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the go
The content/reporting displayed on our website www.mid-day.com is provided "AS-IS," "AS AVAILABLE, by us from third party, agencies, sources, without any verification from our side. It may contain error, bugs and other limitations. The reader's can rely on the content at their own will. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability, data, text, images, video, messages, or any other material whatsoever or for any claims/loss/action that the reader may suffer as a result of relying on the content on our site. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.