Mumbai: Actor Sheezan Khan, who is in jail for allegedly abetting the suicide of co-actor Tunisha Sharma, had not cooperated during custodial interrogation, had deleted some WhatsApp chats and was also in a position to threaten material witnesses if released on bail, a court in Palghar has said.

The details of the Vasai court's January 13 order rejecting the bail plea of Khan was made available on Thursday.

The order also said, “just prior to the alleged incident, something is appeared to have happened between them in the make-up room of the applicant, which forced her to commit suicide”.

Sharma was found hanging on the sets of a TV serial on December24 and Khan was held the next day for abetment to suicide. He is in judicial custody at present and had approached the court for bail.

Additional Sessions Judge R D Deshpande, in his order, said, “According to prosecution, the applicant (Khan) did not cooperate during custodial interrogation, and did not tell anything about the dialogue between him and the deceased from 2 pm to 2:45 pm (on the day of the incident) and that is the main cause in the commission of suicide by deceased Tunisha.”

The court said investigation in the death was in progress, and it was a “matter of concern for the prosecution that the applicant has deleted WhatsApp chats and messages between him, the deceased and his friends”.

The mobile phones of Khan and Sharma had been sent to the foren-sic laboratory in Mumbai for retrieval of deleted messages, and it also needs to be probed if the accused had deceived more girls in a similar fashion, the court order said.

The order also said the witnesses in the case were co-stars of Khan, who is the main character in the serial, and “it is likely if he comes out at this stage then he is likely to threaten the material witnesses from telling truth to the police”.

The applicant can cause “disturbance in the investigation” and “serious prejudice would be caused to the prosecution” if he is given bail as statements of material witnesses were yet to be recorded under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the order said.

“Under such circumstances and to give reasonable and proper opportunity of carrying out fair investigation to the prosecution, applicant needs to be behind the bars for some more period,” the judge said in the order.

The order said the accused kept “relations with her for a period of two months and immediately broke up such relationship”.

As per the court's order, the deceased followed Khan to the main gate of the studio (where the serial was being shot) at 2:45 pm and then returned and hanged herself in the make-up room.

One chit has also been recovered during the course of investigation on which the name of applicant is written in English along with the words 'he is blessed to have me as a co-actor woohooo', the order rejecting Khan's bail said.