No evidence’: Court acquits actor Sooraj Pancholi from abetment of suicide charge

Almost 10 years after Bollywood actor Jiah Khan was found hanging at her Mumbai residence, a special CBI court here on Friday acquitted her then boyfriend Sooraj Pancholi in the case of abetment of her suicide citing “paucity of evidence”.
Sooraj Pancholi (32), who was arrested in the case in June 2013 and released on bail a few weeks later, was charged under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 306 (abetment of suicide).
Jiah’s mother Rabia Khan has been contesting the prosecution’s stand that this was a case of suicide and claimed that her daughter was killed. After the court’s verdict, she said the judgement was not surprising and her battle to seek justice for her daughter will continue.
Pronouncing the verdict, special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court judge A S Sayyad on Friday said due to paucity of evidence, the court holds Sooraj Pancholi not guilty. Sooraj, the son of actor couple Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab, was present in court with his mother when it passed the judgement.
Judge Sayyad called Sooraj to the witness-box and asked his name. When the actor said Sooraj, the judge asked him to state his full name. The actor then replied, “Sooraj Aditya Pancholi.”
The judge then said, “Due to paucity of evidence, this court holds you (Sooraj) not guilty…acquitted.” Sooraj nodded with his head down and stepped out of the witness-box.
The judge then told Rabia Khan that she could prepare an appeal against the acquittal order.
Sooraj walked out of the court premises with his mother an hour after the verdict was pronounced.
Rabia Khan later told reporters in court that her battle seeking justice for her daughter will continue. “I will fight. This judgment is not surprising…I had anticipated this. This is not a case of abetment to suicide it is a case of murder,” she said. Pancholi’s lawyer Prashant Patil welcomed the court’s verdict and said the court has examined all the evidence before passing the judgement.
“It is very easy to make allegations in front of the media, but there was no evidence against Sooraj,” he said.
The court was to pronounce its verdict in the morning, but it got delayed till afternoon after Rabia submitted fresh written arguments.
Rabia Khan also told the court that neither the police nor the CBI had collected any “legal evidence” to prove that her daughter had committed suicide. Sooraj, in his final statement filed before the court, had claimed the investigation and chargesheet were false, adding that the prosecution witnesses testified against him at the behest of complainant Rabia Khan, the police and the CBI.
Sooraj in his final statement to the court also said that Jiah was suffering from depression since 2012 and had in fact cut herself on her arm in November 2012. He claimed that he had informed Rabia Khan about this incident.
Jiah Khan is best known for her performance in Hindi film “Nishabd” starring Amitabh Bachchan.