Mumbai: Calling actor Jiah Khan, who died by suicide 10 years ago, a “victim of her sentiments”, a special court on Friday acquitted her then boyfriend, actor Sooraj Pancholi, of the charge of abetting her suicide.

Twenty-five-year-old Jiah, a US citizen, was found hanging in her Juhu house on June 3, 2013. The court doubted the suicide note, which her mother, Rabiya, said on June 7 that her other daughter had found in Jiah’s wallet. It also said Rabiya could not explain the delay in lodging a complaint.

“No doubt it is an unfortunate incident that the young girl has committed suicide. However, the available evidence on record reflects that Jiah was a victim of her sentiments,” said special judge A S Sayyad adding, “she could have always walked out of her relationship”.

The court pointed out the police found no suicide note on June 3. The court said that 80% of Rabiya’s “evidence is full of improvements and contradictions”.

The CBI “miserably failed” to establish the abetment charge and “in the absence of any mens rea (guilty mind)” to show any instigation, it cannot be said Pancholi drove Jiah to suicide, said the judge.

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Mumbai: Acquitting actor Sooraj Pancholi of the charge of abetment to suicide of his girlfriend Jiah Khan 10 years ago, the CBI court said her mother was the “main and crucial witness” but “80% evidence of complainant is full of improvements and contradictions”.

Special judge A S Sayyad said, “The complainant in her evidence went to the extent to state that whatever letter (was) sent for examination… the handwriting therein was of her. The complainant by stating as such herself created chaos regarding said letter (suicide note).”

The Juhu police had arrested Pancholi, then 21, on June 10, 2013. The son of yesteryear actors Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab stayed in custody till the Bombay high court granted him bail on July 1.

A clean-shaven Pancholi, in olive green shirt, trousers and sneakers, appeared calm as he stepped in the dock on Friday. Addressing him, the judge said: “Due to paucity of evidence, you have been held not guilty. You are acquitted.”

Wahab, who was in court, had tears. Wiping them, she told TOI with folded hands: “I thank God.” As the verdict was pushed back to 12:30 pm, the former actor had sat stoically on a bench, playing a popular game on her phone. Besides Pancholi, his defence counsel Prashant Patil, Rabiya and her counsel Shekhar Jagtap, the court room was packed with mediapersons and law interns.

Rabiya later told TOI that she would appeal the verdict as it was always her case that it “was murder”. The CBI, through prosecutor Manoj Chelladan, examined 22 witnesses in a bid to prove abetment. Pancholi’s lawyer Patil argued the agency had failed and none of the witnesses had pointed fingers at Pancholi, entitling him to be let off.

Accepting Patil’s plea and citing SC rulings on section 306 IPC (abetment of suicide), the judgment said testing the evidence on the touchstone of the requirements laid down by the SC to prove instigation, “it will have to be held that the prosecution has utterly failed to produce sufficient and cogent, dependable evidence establish the ingredients”.

On a message that Jiah received and the prosecution relied on to prove abetment, the court said it showed there was misunderstanding between Jiah and Pancholi over Pancholi meeting a woman friend. Moreover, it is “noteworthy” though Rabiya knew of differences in the relationship, “she never complained before anyone”.

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Actor Sooraj Pancholi was acquitted of abetment charges on Friday in the Jiah Khan suicide case, nearly 10 after the 25-year-old’s death on June 3, 2013, made national headlines. “Due to paucity of evidence, this court can’t hold you (Sooraj Pancholi) guilty, hence acquitted,” said Special Judge AS Sayyed of the Special CBI Court, while delivering the verdict.

The acquittal will hopefully end a troubled chapter in the life of the embattled actor, who was dating Jiah at the time of her suicide and has faced a decade of public outrage and hostility. Sooraj was accompanied in court by mother Zarina Wahab and a few friends. While there was a media frenzy outside the court, Sooraj looked relatively calm as the verdict was read out. Zarina, though, could not hold back her tears as she stood with folded hands. Mother and son headed to Siddhivinayak Temple afterwards.

Sooraj’s lawyer Prashant Patil said, “None of the judgments since 2013 has gone against Sooraj Pancholi. The matter was investigated by the CBI and Mumbai Police and no evidence was found against Sooraj. It’s easy to make allegations in the media, but to provide evidence is important; 22 witnesses in the case spoke against the abetment theory.”

Sooraj had been charged with abetment to suicide under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code.

Jiah’s mother Rabiya arrived in Mumbai from London on Friday morning. Speaking to us after the court’s verdict, she said, “Abetment to suicide was a wrong charge. For the last 10 years, I have been giving evidence and telling the CBI that there are loopholes in the investigation. Jiah’s real cause of death has not been established till date. If it was not abetment, what was it? I have been saying that my child was murdered,” adding, “I will speak to my legal team and take necessary steps. The verdict wasn’t a shock, it was predictable. I was not hoping for any miracle today.”

Rabiya’s lawyer Shekhar Jagtap said, “We may have lost the battle, but the war is still on. The court has acquitted the accused due to lack of evidence. We need to read the judgment and then take appropriate steps.”

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The six-page suicide note allegedly written by actress Jiah Khan, due to which a case of abetment of suicide was registered against actor Sooraj Pancholi, turned out to be a factor that resulted in a special CBI court acquitting him on Friday. Pancholi’s advocate, Prashant Patil, claimed that the note was not written by the deceased.

He also stated it was found inside a diary three to four days after the alleged suicide occurred, on June 3, 2013.

Jiah Khan’s mother, Rabiya Khan, addressing the media outside the sessions court on Friday, said, “I have always said that this not a suicide but a case of murder and this verdict further strengthens my claims. I will move the higher court to challenge this order.”

Patil, who claimed that the suicide note and other evidence were planted to “suppress the truth that Jiah Khan was suffering from depression”, has also stated that the forensic report has confirmed that the handwriting in the diary matched that of the suicide note and that the writer of both is the same.

He told mid-day, “Rabiya Khan had testified before the court that this was not a suicide note. Secondly, when the police raided the premises on the day of the suicide, they didn’t find any note. Four days after the incident, somebody came up with the note and it was given to the media, not the police. The note does not mention anybody’s name nor was it signed or addressed to anyone. According to the CBI, the so-called suicide note was seized from a diary. The opinion of handwriting experts is that the author of the diary and the suicide note are the same. During the trial, the prime witness (Rabiya Khan) admitted that the handwriting in the diary is hers. Thus, the suicide note theory and the entire case against my client falls flat.”

He added, “While being cross-examined before the court, Rabia Khan stated that dairy belonged to her. My client spent 22 days in prison and for the past ten years, he has been waiting for justice. Now, justice has prevailed.”

Asked if the writing on the note was ever matched with that of Jiah Khan, Patil said, “The mother never provided her natural handwriting, saying that it was not available with her.”

The advocate further alleged, “Since day one, there has been a modus operandi to suppress the truth and the CBI has never examined two important witnesses. The first is the doctor, who according to the CBI and police, treated Jiah when she had attempted suicide. He had said that she was depressed and had tried to end her life. The second important witness is Moin Beig who helped Jiah’s mother cool the body on the day of the incident. They were not examined because they would have said the truth and the prosecution’s case would have been damaged.”

On Friday, the court pronounced its verdict at 12:30 pm while Pancholi was present inside the courtroom and was later called to the witness box. Special Judge A S Sayyed told Pancholi, “Due to the paucity of the evidence, this court can’t hold you guilty and hence you have been acquitted.”

Pancholi then smiled at his mother, Zarina Wahab, who was present and in tears. She thanked God when reporters inside the courtroom sought a reaction.

Patil, after walking out of the courtroom, said, “For the past ten years, not a single order of high court, special court and the Supreme Court has gone against Sooraj Pancholi. The case was being investigated by India’s two premier agencies, the CBI and the Mumbai Police, and despite that, there is not a single shred of evidence against Pancholi. Twenty-two witnesses were examined and nothing was found against him. It is easy to make allegations in the media but when the evidence comes on record, no one can travel beyond that and the law is above everyone and the court has today acquitted him.”

Terming mental health issues a concern, Patil, said, “The government has introduced the Mental Healthcare Act in 2017 because youngsters are facing depression and anxiety. One of the crux of the argument before the court was [that in the case of] any person who unfortunately commits suicide, a single incident cannot be a triggering point. You have to understand and investigate the economic, social and cultural background of the person since childhood and in this case, we have brought the journey of the deceased since her childhood before the court and some serious incidences have come on record. Three of four incidents were very serious and we assume that because of this, she had no option but to commit suicide.”

He stated that Jiah Khan had attempted to die by suicide prior to June 3. “We told the court if the deceased has suicidal tendencies, why was Sooraj Pancholi falsely implicated and it was a one-sided mala fide targeted investigation,” he said.

Before the court passed its order, Rabiya Khan moved an application before it, stating that there were various discrepancies in the investigation carried out by both agencies. According to the application, they are non-analysis of the deceased’s devices, non-analysis of the ligature found around the deceased, non-analysis of the ligature mark, non-retrieval of the BBM messages between the deceased and accused and lack of mention of the injury marks on the deceased in the post-mortem report.”

The application reads, “It is submitted that the conclusion of the medical evidence also states that death by suicide cannot be ruled out but it is necessary to examine the ligature, however till date, the same was never done, which itself indicates that a proper, impartial, fair and transparent investigation is not done till date.”

Rabiya Khan also stated that both investigating agencies had not collected legal evidence or proof to say this was a mere case of suicide and the first informant believes it is a murder case and the accused is responsible for killing her daughter.

Jiah, 25, a United States resident, was found dead in her Juhu home. On the basis of the letter, the police arrested Pancholi on June 10 and charged him with abetting her suicide. The Mumbai Police, who initially looked into the issue, seized a letter that the CBI claimed was authored by Jiah Khan. According to the central agency, the message detailed Jiah Khan’s alleged “intimate relationship, physical abuse, and mental and physical torture” at the hands of Pancholi.

Jiah’s mother Rabiya Khan, a significant witness for the prosecution, told the court that she thought it was a case of murder rather than suicide. She had petitioned the Bombay High Court for a further probe into the matter, but it was denied last year.

Pancholi released a statement after the verdict that read, “The verdict has taken 10 long painful years and sleepless nights. Today, I have not only won this case against me but I have also won my dignity and confidence back. It took a lot of courage to face the world with such heinous allegations. I hope and pray to God that nobody goes through what I have gone through at such a young age. I don’t know who will give me these 10 years of my life back, but I am glad that this has finally come to an end not only for me but especially for my family. There is nothing bigger than peace in this world.”

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“The truth always wins,” wrote actor Sooraj Pancholi on his Instagram Story after he was acquitted in the Jiah Khan death case. On Friday, a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Mumbai gave its verdict in connection with the death of Khan. Pancholi, 32, accused of abetting the suicide of the actor, who he was in a relationship with, was acquitted in the case.

“Due to paucity of evidence, this court can’t hold you (Sooraj Pancholi) guilty, hence acquitted,” said Judge AS Sayyed. Jiah’s mother Rabiya Khan told CNN News18 that Pancholi was cleared only of abetment of suicide. “This is a case of murder,” she said, adding that she intends to pursue the case further.

Pancholi’s mother actor Zarina Wahab who had accompanied him to the court, told a portal: “Satyamev Jayate. [My faith in the judiciary] has been further strengthened. It has been ten years of torture, trauma and stigma for my son.” After the verdict, Pancholi thanked the media for supporting him and distributed sweets to those present. HTC

The Nishabd (2007) actor dies by suicide. She is 25.

A letter purportedly written by Jiah, seized by the police, details her trouble relationship with Pancholi and alleges physical and mental abuse at his hands.

Booking Pancholi under Section 306 (abetment to suicide) of IPC, Mumbai Police arrest the actor.

Pancholi is granted bail and on the next day, the court acquits him, stating the actor is not accountable for Khan’s death.

CBI raids the Pancholi residence after Khan’s mother requests the court for a thorough investigation.

CBI officials rule out murder and state that the actor died by suicide.

Rabiya Khan pens an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking justice.

A special CBI court pronounces its final verdict, acquitting Pancholi.

Rabiya Khan, Jiah Khan’s mother, speaks with media persons outside the court. Pics/Anurag Ahire