Judge Shames CBI Over Jiah Khan Probe

Judge Shames CBI Over Jiah Khan Probe

Mumbai: The CBI Wednesday registered a formal case to investigate the death of Bollywood
actress Jiah Khan, five weeks after a Bombay High Court order, an official said.
The development came after the high court transferred the case to the Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI) and asked it to consider whether it was a case of suicide or homicidal death.
If it comes to a conclusion that it is a homicidal death, then further investigation be made to
find out who is the perpetrator of the crime and accordingly action be taken, a division bench
of Justice V.M. Kanade and Justice P.D. Kode had said in its order July 3.
A US citizen, Jiah Khan was found hanging from a ceiling fan in her Mumbai home June 3 last
year in a case of apparent suicide. Police later recovered a suicide note purportedly penned by
her.
The court had ordered the agency to take over the probe from a Special Investigation Team
(SIT) of Maharashtra Police following a plea filed by the actress mother Rabia Khan in October
2013, seeking a probe by the CBI.
The case is handed over to the CBI for further investigation and to assess whether Jiah Khan
committed suicide or was murdered, the division bench said last month.
The court said it was not expressing any opinion on the merits of the probe done by Mumbai
police.
The court had directed the Maharashtra government and police to provide all necessary support
to the CBI in investigating the case.
The judges said the forensic opinion obtained privately by petitioner Rabia Khan was at variance
with that of Mumbai police, suggesting there was a lacuna in the probe.
Moreover, the SIT constituted following court directives consisted of officers who were part of
the earlier team that had probed the case and reached the conclusion that Jiah Khans death
was a suicide.
Police had subsequently arrested Jiah Khans boyfriend, Sooraj Pancholi, the actor-son of actors
Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab, and charged him with allegedly abetting her suicide.