Nearly 10 years after actor-model Jiah Khan was found hanging in a flat in Mumbai, a special CBI court in Mumbai is set to deliver its verdict on Friday in the much-talked-about case - in which Bollywood actor Sooraj Pancholi stood as an accused.
Sooraj (32), the son of actor-couple Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab, has acted in films like Hawa Singh (2022), Time To Dance (2021), Satellite Shankar (2019), Hero (2014), Heer Ranjha (2011).
Jiah (25) was found hanging at her flat in Sagar Sangeet Building in the posh Juhu area on June 3, 2013 around midnight.
Also Read | Gujarat: Man who raped three minor girls in 10 days, killed one of them gets death penalty
Jiah made her film debut at 19 in Ram Gopal Varma’s Nishabd in 2007 and went on to appear in a couple of more films Ghajini and Housefull, her only other films in her short career.
Jiah was in a relationship with Sooraj, who was then trying to make a foothold in Bollywood.
She apparently left a note, which points fingers towards Aditya Pancholi's son Sooraj, who was later arrested in connection with her suicide.
The case was later handed over to the CBI following repeated pleas by mother Rabia Khan and directives of the Bombay High court on 3 July, 2014.
Sooraj was booked under section 306 of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly abetting Jiah's suicide, a week after she ended her life.
Jiah, in her note, had narrated her ordeal, intimate relationship, physical abuse, and mental and physical torture allegedly at the hands of Sooraj.
The prosecution in the case had examined 22 witnesses including Jiah’s mother Rabia.
Advocate Prashant Patil appeared for Sooraj.