Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed the plea seeking for formation of special investigation team to conduct a fresh investigation into the death of actress Jiah Khan.
A Division Bench of Justice Ranjit More and Justice Shalini Phansalkar Joshi was hearing a petition filed by Rabia Khan, mother of the actress, in February 2015 stating that the probe conducted by the Juhu police into the death did not consider the possibility of murder, despite several glaring features pointing to homicide. The case was thereafter transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation on July 3, 2014. The petition said even the findings of this agency had several lacunae and discrepancies. Ms. Khan sought for a formation of a special investigation team to conduct a fresh probe in the case.
Actor Sooraj Pancholi who was charged with abetment of suicide was arrested on June 10, 2013 after the incident but was granted bail. The petition said the two were in a relationship and alleged that he deliberately deleted messages exchanged between the two.
Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh appearing for the CBI said that a totally impartial, fair and transparent investigation was carried out by CBI.
The court said, “in our opinion, nothing further needs to be probed or investigated into the matter for the purpose of collecting material or evidence on the medico-legal aspect of the case to ascertain the cause of death. Sufficient evidence is now available on record for the Trial Court to form its own opinion as to the cause of the death. It is always for the Trial Court and not for the Investigating Agencies to form a conclusive opinion whether it is a case of suicide or homicide. Hence, after about three-and-a-half years from the date of incident, nothing fruitful will come out either by directing further investigation by constituting Special Investigation Team.”
