Police say no evidence that Jiah murdered, mother to move HC

MUMBAI: A week after Mumbai police charge sheeted actor Suraj Pancholi for allegedly abetting suicide of his actress girlfriend Jiah Khan, her mother is set to move the Bombay High Court seeking direction to police to consider the material given by her which indicated she was murdered. Rabiya Khan, mother of the British-American actor who was found dead at her Juhu home on June 3 last year, said police had not considered the material provided by her despite specific instructions from the high court.

Police had last week filed a 447-page charge sheet in an Andheri court accusing Suraj of abetting Jiah's suicide on the basis of evidence gathered during the investigation, which did not indicate it was a case of murder. "There was no evidence to show that Jiah was killed. We have gone into the material given by her mother but have not found any evidence to support the theory that it was a case of murder," a top police officer told PTI.

Rabiya, however, is not convinced with the findings of the probe and would seek the help of the high court to get the police to investigate the matter afresh from the angle of murder. "They (police) have not done a thorough probe. They have not properly probed the murder angle despite the high court's direction," she said. "We shall move the Bombay High Court next week seeking that the police probe the aspect of Jiah Khan's murder as they have ignored the material given to them by Rabiya strongly suggesting that her daughter had been killed," her lawyer, Dinesh Tiwari, said.

In support of her claim that 25-year-old Jiah, who had made a high-profile debut opposite Amitabh Bachchan in Ram Gopal Varma's 'Nishabd', was murdered, Rabiya said human tissues found in her nails indicated struggle before death. However, police have said the tissues were Jiah's own, while ruling out murder.

Soon after Jiah's death, her mother had handed over a letter purportedly written by the actor which showed she was in a troubled relationship with newbie actor Suraj, son of actor couple Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab. Suraj, who was younger to Jiah, was arrested on the charge of abetting her suicide and later granted bail.