Court seeks details of CBI probe in Jiah Khan case

A sessions court in Mumbai asked for the the status of the CBI probe into Bollywood starlet Jiah Khan suicide case.

Actor Suraj Pancholi, son of Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab, is the accused in the case. "What is the status of CBI investigation? Is anybody from the CBI present," asked special women's court judge AS Shende.

The judge noted that the CBI had earlier said that investigation was over but the charge sheet was still not filed. "It is almost a year now (since the CBI took over the case)," Shende said.

Meanwhile, the court was today also informed that advocate Dinesh Tiwari, who represented Jiah's mother, has now been appointed the special public prosecutor for the case.

Suraj today attended the hearing, while nobody from the CBI was present. The Bombay High Court in July last year transferred the case to the central probe agency. Jiah, an American citizen, was found dead at her Juhu home here on June 3, 2013. Police arrested Suraj on the basis of a six-page letter, purportedly written by Jiah, and booked him for 'abetment of suicide'.

According to the police, Jiah was in a relationship with Suraj. The high court subsequently granted bail to Suraj. His bail application contended that the two were in a consensual relationship, and the letter was being misused by Jiah's mother Rabiya.

Rabiya moved the high court in October 2013, alleging that her daughter had been murdered, and sought a CBI probe. The suburban Juhu police on January 16, 2013, had filed a 447-page charge sheet in Andheri magistrate's court before the case was transferred to CBI.

-PTI