Aditya Pancholi arrived at Jiah Khan’s house, said son Sooraj ‘has ruined his life’, her mom Rabia tells court

A day after saying Jiah Khan had accused Sooraj Pancholi of physical and mental abuse a couple of months before her death, the late actor’s mother told a special court in Mumbai that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and police did not collect any ‘legal evidence’ to prove that her daughter died by suicide. She alleged that her daughter was murdered. Jiah was found dead at her Mumbai home in June 2013. Read more: Jiah Khan was physically and verbally abused by Sooraj Pancholi, says her mother in court

Actor Sooraj Pancholi, who was in a relationship with Jiah at the time, was booked for abetment of suicide. The Jiah Khan case was probed by Mumbai Police, as well as the CBI. Sooraj is currently out on bail.

On Thursday, Jiah’s mother Rabia Khan continued recording her testimony in the case before a special judge. She reportedly revealed the circumstances in which she found Jiah, after her alleged suicide. Rabia said she had called actor Anju Mahendroo after finding Jiah, and said Anju arrived at the late actor’s home with one Moin Baig in 10 minutes. They are both are witnesses in the case.

As per a PTI report, Rabia said that after some time, the police also arrived at Jiah’s home. She added that after an officer inspected the scene, he immediately said there seems to be a foul play. Rabia said following this, when actor Aditya Pancholi, Sooraj’s father, walked into the house, he said his son had ‘ruined his own life’.

Rabia told the special court that police had taken away all the belongings of Jiah, including her mobile phone. She added it had ‘many text messages and missed calls, all from Sooraj’. Rabia also said she had read the messages on Jiah’s phone and that they were ‘filled with anger and some abusive language’. Rabia alleged that ‘many pictures and messages had been deleted’ from Jiah’s phone after it was taken by police.

Rabia also reiterated that when a policewoman came to Jiah’s house to record her statement, she told her that it was not a case of suicide but murder. She also told the court that a few days after her daughter’s death, they found a note written by her stating the ‘pain and grievances borne by Jiah’, which pointed towards Sooraj.

Rabia also said in court, “Both the agencies (police and CBI) never collected any legal evidence to prove it was a case of suicide. I believe it is a murder and the accused is responsible for killing my daughter.”

The defence will cross-examine Rabia on Monday. Jiah Khan was best known for her film Nishabd starring Amitabh Bachchan. Soorraj is the son of actors Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab. He made his acting debut in Bollywood with Salman Khan’s home production Hero opposite Athiya Shetty, daughter of actor Sunil Shetty.

With PTI inputs